One After Another
by 8-Bit Eevee
Summary: A Glaceon moves to a forest, inhabited by other Eeveelutions. He meets a Leafeon by circumstance, and saves her from humans. A Jolteon living in the forest visits a nearby town with a childhood friend, a Flareon. The Flareon is kidnapped and the Jolteon must save her. These are just a couple tales. Each character has their own to tell, one after another.
1. Chapter 1

**Yay for fillers! Anyway, please read this before beginning the story. Firstly, I do not own Pokemon. This story was written purely for entertainment purposes, and is not meant to infringe on any copyrights. Alright, secondly, I want to talk about this story. So, if you've read the "Backstory" on my profile already, you know that this story was not originally meant to be uploaded. You might also know that I started this a few months ago rather than just recently, so I have about 50 more pages already done in case I get writer's block. Anyway,now that it is uploaded to this website, I'd like to say that there is no real main plot. Which means, this story will never end as long as I still have the interest in writing it. Now I'll shut up so you can enjoy the story.**

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A Glaceon walked along the forest floor. Wind blew through the leaves of trees, through the grass, and through the undergrowth. Red, orange, and yellow leaves were falling all around. It would be winter soon. The Glaceon kept walking forward, with leaves crunching under paw. Soon, it came to a lake where it stopped for a drink. As the Glaceon was drinking the cool, refreshing water, a sudden splash caused it to jump back in surprise

"Sorry, I didn't see you there," A Vaporeon came out of the water and shook its fur. The Glaceon shrugged.

"That's alright," the Glaceon replied. "It could've been worse. I could be a Flareon." The Vaporeon gave a small laugh.

"I don't recognize you. Are you new around here?" the Vaporeon asked. The Glaceon nodded in reply.

"Yes. I just got here. I've been... travelling for a while," the Glaceon said. "I heard about this place in the town that's not far from here. I thought it sounded like a good place to settle down."

"In any case, welcome. My name is Stream," the Vaporeon said. "And your name?"

"Hail. My name is Hail," the Glaceon replied. Stream nodded and turned around again.

"I need to get going," she said before diving into the water. "I'll be seeing you around."

Hail nodded before starting to walk again. The Glaceon continued to walk, enjoying the cool weather. After around half an hour, he stopped, feeling like something was off. Then it jumped, right before a thunderbolt landed right where it was standing. Hail turned and saw a Jolteon jump out of a bush.

"Oh sorry," it said. "I thought you were someone else. Good thing you were fast enough to jump out of the way." Hail just shrugged.

"Anyway, you must be new here. I'm called Thunder," the Jolteon said, introducing himself. Hail nodded.

"My name is Hail," Hail said with a nod. "Now what was that about-"His question was cut off as a column of fire shot through a bush from behind him. Hail reacted quickly and jumped out of the way, but Thunder wasn't as lucky, and got hit square in the side.

"We're not done yet Thunder!" a voice called. A Flareon jumped out and looked at the two of them. "Who's this?" she asked, tilting her head. "I've never seen him before." Thunder got up and turned towards the Flareon.

"His name is Hail. He's new here," Thunder said before running at the Flareon with lightning fast speed. Flareeasily stepped out of the way.

"My name is Flare," she said, before launching another flamethrower at Thunder. "I'm kind of busy at the moment. I'll see you later." Hail nodded and left the two to their battle. He walked until the sun was beginning to set.

He picked out a spot between a tree and a boulder for the night. Using ice beam, Hail created a makeshift den that would be good enough for tonight. He settled down in the den and closed his eyes, drifting off into sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**What's this? More fillers? And you know what another filler means: Another chapter is being uploaded! So obviously, I'll purposely make this extremely long so that you never get the chance to read the actual story. No just kidding. Anyway, this is the second chapter I'm uploading today. This (probably) won't happen much, and I'm doing it because A: why not, and B: This story seems to have already started to gain traction. Before I shut up though, I'd like to say again that I do not own Pokemon, and that this story is here for entertainment purposes only. It is not meant to infringe on any copyrights.**

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Hail awoke the next morning with a yawn. Sunlight was streaming into his makeshift den, and the ice was dripping water. It would melt soon. He got up, stretched, and left to go find food and a more suitable place for a permanent den.

Soon Hail was sitting on the bank of a river, eating berries that he had found. He watched the water flow by as he ate. As he bent his head to bite into another oran berry, it glowed with a faint bluish color and started to float.

He got up. "Who's there?" he called. 'There's a psychic pokemon nearby,' he thought. 'Maybe an Espeon?' Sure enough an Espeon stepped out from behind a tree and the oran berry floated towards her. Hail got into a defensive stance, expecting a fight.

"I'm not here to fight you," the Espeon said, biting into the berry. "And I can tell you're not going to attack me either. You've got more than enough berries for yourself." Hail relaxed. "I heard about you yesterday from Stream. She said your name was Hail, right?"

Hail tilted his head. "Yes. Does news get around that quick here?" he asked. The Espeon shrugged.

"You could say that. After all, everybody knows everyone in this forest. By the way, my name's Dawn," she said. Just then an Umbreon stepped out of a nearby bush.

"I was looking for you Dawn," he said, before noticing the Glaceon. "You must be Hail. My name is Dusk."

"Yep," Hail replied.

"Dawn, mother wants us to help her with..." Dusk began. He shot a glance at Hail. "You know." Dawn nodded.

"Yes. We must be going," she said to Hail.

"It was nice meeting you two," Hail said before starting off again. He looked behind himself once, but both Dawn and Dusk were gone.

He walked for a few hours, not going anywhere in particular. "Stream, Thunder, Flare, Dawn, and Dusk," he said to himself, cramming the names into his head. Soon the trees thinned out a little, and he arrived at the base of a mountain. He looked around, finding himself in a small clearing. A good spot for a den.

Marking the spot in his mind, Hail walked off again to explore more of the forest. He circled around back to the lake as the sun was starting to lower in the sky. He sat at the edge of the lake and drank from it.

"Surprise!" An array of voices shouted out, making Hail jump. He turned around and saw Stream, Thunder, Flare, Dusk, Dawn, a Sylveon, and a few others he didn't know yet.

"What?" he asked, confused. The Sylveon walked forward.

"We have a bit of a tradition here," she said in a soft voice. "Whenever there's a newcomer, we all take them on a bit of a tour. But since you've already seen it for yourself, we'll show you our dens."

Hail nodded. "Okay," he said.

"I remember when I came here," the Sylveon said, blushing a bit as she looked at Dusk. Dusk looked down at his paws, but Hail could still see the red on his cheeks. Hail heard some of the Eeveelutions laugh. "Anyway, my name is Silk." Hail looked at Silk and then at Dusk, then nodded.

"We'll introduce you to the ones you haven't met as we walk," Dusk put in, looking up again. He began to walk, and the rest of the Eeveelutions followed. Hail began to follow them too. So far, he was liking it in this new place.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey, it's Mr. Filler again. So once again, I'd like to say I do not own Pokemon, this story is for entertainment purposes only, and it is not meant to infringe on any copyrights. So without further ado, enjoy chapter 3.**

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Hail got to know another Vaporeon and Sylveon. The Vaporeon's name was Ripple, and the Sylveon's name was Rose. Rose and Ripple were mates, parents to Dawn and Dusk. Their den was inside the largest and most strangely shaped tree Hail had ever seen. Dawn explained that Dusk, Blue, Rose, and herself forced it to grow in such a way.

He also met another Espeon, who was Thunder's mother. Her name was Gem; her mate had disappeared a few years ago. Gem lived in a house of wood, which she said her mate had helped to make. Thunder lived separate from his mother, in the wide trunk of a hollow dead tree. The roof was an interlocking puzzle of twigs and grass.

The pokemon who were left ate a meal of berries at Flare's den. Flare lived in a small house made of rock. She said that other pokemon had helped her to make it. It took longer than making a house out of wood, but at least she wouldn't be able to burn it down.

Stream's den was in an underwater cave. Hail didn't swim into the lake to see it, but Stream told him that there was a tunnel that led to a hole in the floor of a cave, which looked like it had been dug out by another pokemon.

Now only Hail and Silk were left walking with each other. "Do you have a place to stay for tonight?" Silk asked. Hail shook his head.

"Nope. I was planning to start on a den tomorrow," he said.

"Then why don't you sleep in my den for tonight?" Silk suggested. "I have enough room for the two of us."

"Sounds good to me," Hail replied. The two walked to Silk's den, which was a neatly built house of wood. Silk proudly told him that she had built it herself. She was right: there was more than enough room for the two of them to sleep there.

Hail and Silk slept as far away from each other as they could. Well, Silk did anyway. Hail didn't sleep that night: he wasn't tired, and he was thinking about how he would build his den. The next morning, Hail waited for Silk to wake up before he left. They ate a quick morning meal, before Hail set off to make his den.

"Let's see…" Hail said under his breath. He was back at the base of the mountain, in the clearing, planning out the layout of the den in his mind. He unstrapped a small leather pouch that was around his neck, taking out an item. It was a small piece of frigid ice.

Hail drew power from the nevermelt ice, and began his work. He built up walls and a roof using ice beam and other moves, leaving holes for sunlight to shine through. The work took up most of the day. When he was done, he stepped inside to take a look, satisfied with the result. It was big enough for a few pokemon to live in at once.

His den was leaning up against a tree on one side. He cut blasted a hole in the side of the tree with ice shard, and found that the trunk was hollow. Hail shrugged. Extra room, in case he ever needed it.

He stepped outside again to survey the exterior. Not overly large, but not small either. He looked up at the sky, and saw that it would be evening in a few hours. He decided to spend the remainder of the day in his new den.

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**What's this? A filler at the end of the story?! Yes. I'd like to say that next chapter is when things actually start to happen. So be sure to keep track of the story by clicking the follow button, and give it some reviews as well! (Constructive criticism is welcome, but flaming is unnecessary and will be ignored.)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hooray for two chapters in one day! (Excuse the accidental rhyme) In the last filler, I promised that something would happen in this chapter. I lied. No just kidding, something relatively large happens here. Make sure to keep track of this story, because I have 50 more pages (around 25 chapters) already written. So the posting schedule will be a bit on the random side, and I can't be sure exactly when I'm going to post the next chapter. All I know is that I try to upload at least 1 chapter a day. Also, post a review or just a comment if you'd like! Now, before we begin, I don't own pokemon, this story is purely for entertainment purposes, and it is not meant to infringe on any copyrights. Enjoy chapter 4!**

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The Leafeon ran, hearing her pursuers right behind her. Her name was Petal, and she was being chased by humans. She didn't know why. These humans weren't trainers. They all wore the same black outfits with a red shape on the front, and they weren't trying to catch her in a pokeball.

Petal kept running. It was the only thing she could do. She couldn't fight them, since she was weak from an earlier battle.

Petal walked on the edge of a forest. It was a normal autumn day. She was looking for something to eat, when all of a sudden a pokemon slammed into her side, unbalancing her. When she recovered, she turned and saw that it was a Zubat.

Petal dodged the Zubat's follow up attack. Then she shot a magical leaf at it, but the Zubat easily flew out of the way. It then used supersonic, causing Petal's vision to start spinning. While she was confused, the Zubat hit her a few times with Wing Attack. When Petal's vision finally returned to normal, she sliced it with a leaf blade and followed up with another magical leaf, causing it to fall to the ground, fainted.

"Zubat did you-"a human trampled out of the forest. "Well look what I found," he said, smiling. "Hey! Over here! I found one of them!" he turned and shouted. A couple more humans came out of the forest and looked at Petal.

At this point, Petal had enough sense to run. She ran as fast as she could, and the humans started chasing after her.

Petal kept running. She didn't know how long they had been chasing her. All she knew was that she was getting tired. She tripped and pain shot through her paw. Petal tried to get up and keep running, but her paw exploded with pain. She looked behind herself and saw one of the humans running at her. Her heart sank and she blacked out.

"What… happened…"Petal groaned as she woke up. She was in a cage. "What?!" she exclaimed, shooting up, before she collapsed again from the pain in her paw.

"You're awake." A voice said. She looked up and saw one of the humans smiling down at her. Her heart sank. She had been caught. Petal curled up in the cage and closed her eyes, forcing herself not to cry, while the humans talked excitedly.

Hail walked through a field outside of the forest where he had made his new den. He was heading towards a town that was in that direction. He wasn't that far away from the forest, so he still had a ways to go. Hail walked for a while, then saw some shapes moving up ahead. He quietly sped up and saw that they were humans.

There were three of them, all wearing the same black outfit. One of them was carrying something. He moved even closer and saw that it was a cage. And inside the cage was a pokemon, a Leafeon. Hail moved closer, trying to discern what the humans were saying.

"I wonder how much we'll get for this one," one of the humans wondered, loud enough for Hail to hear. 'Are they selling her?' he thought to himself. He moved closer again to take a look at the Leafeon. It was obvious that she didn't want to be there.

"Over my dead body," Hail muttered before launching an ice beam at the human's hand. It shouted with surprise and dropped the cage, causing the Leafeon to look up and stare at Hail. He looked at her for a moment before turning to see that they had sent out some pokemon. There was a Zubat and an Ekans.

"This isn't your fight," the Ekans hissed at him. Hail just shrugged.

"I just made it my fight," he said before shooting an ice cold beam of energy at it. The Ekans slid out of the way. The Zubat flew towards him. Hail lowered his body temperature and used ice burn, causing it to drop to the ground. Suddenly the Ekans came out of nowhere and used poison jab, hitting him in the side.

Hail recovered from the hit and turned to face the Ekans. He got into a defensive stance, waiting for it to attack first. The Ekans took the bait and slid toward him quickly, ready to use wrap. Hail jumped out of the way, then used ice beam one more time, which froze the Ekans solid.

Hail turned to the humans. He got ready to use blizzard, and the air turned cold. The humans backed up a bit before they ran away, shouting. Hail went over to the cage still on the ground. The Leafeon was looking up at him, her eyes shining. He broke open the cage with another ice beam attack.

Petal felt despair hanging over her like a cloud as she listened to the humans discuss how much money they would earn for catching her. Suddenly the one holding the cage shouted, and the cage fell. Her paw banged against it with a jolt, and pain shot through it. She looked up and saw a Glaceon facing her. He looked at Petal, then stared at the humans. Petal's eyes lit up with hope. The humans sent out a Zubat and an Ekans, and she watched the Glaceon fight them.

When both were lying on the ground, fainted, the Glaceon turned to the humans. The air suddenly got significantly colder. The humans backed off and ran. Her heart raced as the Glaceon walked towards her. He opened the cage with an ice beam.

"H-Hi," she said quietly. "That was… amazing."

"Hello," the Glaceon said. "And thanks. It was nothing. My name is Hail. What's yours?"

"P-Petal," she stammered. "My name is Petal."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5! Keep track of the story using the follow button, and give it some reviews as well! Once again, I do not own Pokemon, this story is purely for entertainment purposes, and it is not meant to infringe on any copyrights.**

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Petal limped along, leaning on Hail's shoulder. He had told her that he was going to bring her back to his den. Petal coughed and broke the silence.

"I haven't properly thanked you yet for before," she said. "So… Thank you. I probably owe my life to you." Hail shrugged.

"It was nothing," he said.

"But why did you save me?" Petal asked him. "You didn't know me, and you could've been hurt." Hail stopped. 'Why did I save her?' he thought. 'She's got a point…'

When Hail didn't respond, Petal coughed again. "Anyways, should we keep walking?" she asked. Hail nodded, and the two started to walk again. They did so in silence for a while.

"I guess I just felt like I had to," Hail suddenly said.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Petal asked, confused.

"Your question from before. I think I felt like I had to save you, for some reason," he replied. "I've never felt that way before."

"Oh," Petal said, looking down to hide the slight blush on her face. "Well thank you. I'm glad you felt that way. Otherwise I don't know where I'd be right now." Hail turned his head, feeling his cheeks turn slightly red.

"It was nothing," he said with a cough. After that, they were silent again until they reached the clearing where Hail's house was. He heard her gasp.

"This is your den?!" she exclaimed. Hail nodded.

"Yes. I built it myself," he replied, shrugging.

"It's amazing," Petal replied, her eyes wide. "Y-You're p-pretty amazing, you know," Hail felt his cheeks turn red and he looked down.

"We should get inside," he said. "It's getting dark. Why don't you stay here for tonight?" Petal nodded.

Hail led Petal inside and over to the tree trunk. They talked for a while, before Hail heard something outside.

"Hey! Hello? Whose house is this?" the voice called. Hail stepped outside and saw Thunder standing there.

"Hail?!" he said, surprised. "This is your house?!" Hail nodded.

"Do you want to come inside?" he offered. Thunder smiled and nodded. Hail brought him inside and showed him around.

"What's over there?" Thunder asked, looking towards the tree trunk. Hail glanced over and turned back to Thunder. He talked about Petal, the Leafeon and how he had saved her. Thunder listened with interest. Then Hail brought him over to meet her. The three talked together for a while, with Petal describing in great detail how Hail had saved her.

"It was amazing. I can't thank you enough Hail," she said, looking at him. The Glaceon's cheeks were red the entire time, and he was looking at his paws to hide it. Thunder glanced at Hail then at Petal.

"Hail, there's something I need to talk to you about," he said. Hail nodded. Thunder walked out of the house and waited to Hail to come out.

"You like Petal, don't you?" Thunder asked, smiling, as soon as Hail stepped out of his house.

"What?" he asked. "No I don't." He replied, a little too quickly. Thunder rolled his eyes.

"Sure. And I'm a Flareon. It's obvious that you like her," he said. Hail sighed.

"I don't know…" he said. He thought about Petal's question again. Maybe he did like her. "I-I guess I do," he said. Thunder smiled.

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**Hmm... Too short of a chapter? Yeah, I think so too. The reasoning behind this is that this chapter was pre-written. I wrote it a couple months ago or so, when I didn't have the intention of uploading it to the Internet. Sorry about that! Currently, this story has 68 views. If it manages to break 100 today, I'll post another chapter.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Wow. Just around 2 hours ago, I uploaded Chapter 5 of this story, when it only had 68 views. At that point in time, I promised to post another chapter if it managed to break 100 today. I didn't think it would. But now, here we are at 105 views. Yay! Thanks for the support! Keep track of the story with the follow button in the upper right, and give it some reviews as well! Once again, I do not own Pokemon, this story is purely for entertainment purposes, and it is not meant to infringe on any copyrights.**

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"C-Could I sleep in here with you tonight?" Hail asked Petal. "You know… to make sure you're okay." Petal blushed a little.

"U-Uhm Yeah sure," she said, moving over. Hail lay down a little bit away from Petal. She shivered.

"Uhm H-Hail?" she asked. "C-Can I sleep next to you? I-It's kind of cold a-and…" she stuttered, trailing off. She was blushing badly now. Hail felt his cheeks turn redder too.

"A-And... what?" he asked. Petal took a deep breath.

"I-I feel safe with you. Safe and warm. I feel like... like nothing can get to me when I'm with you," she admitted. "And.. I know it's nothing to worry about, but I'm afraid that those humans will find me... So... C-Can I sleep with you?" Hail's cheeks turned even redder.

"Y-Yeah sure," he said. He moved over to Petal and tensed up when he felt her warmth press against him. Then he relaxed and closed his eyes, going to sleep.

The next morning Hail woke up, feeling something warm against his side. He looked next to him and saw Petal still sleeping. He blushed and stayed where he was, waiting for her to wake up too. Soon Petal woke up and yawned.

"Warm…" the Leafeon said before opening her eyes, staring up at Hail. She blushed.

"Good morning," Hail said, meeting her gaze.

"G-Good morning," Petal replied, blushing more. She sat up.

"I'll grab us something to eat," Hail said before leaving. The Glaceon walked through the forest, looking for some berries. When had gathered enough, and wrapped the berries in leaves, he brought them back to his house, where Petal was patiently waiting. He dropped the wraps and berries came rolling out.

"Thanks," Petal said, biting into an oran berry. Hail chose a leppa berry. As he ate, he would shoot glances at Petal. While she ate, Petal would look over at Hail. Then the Leafeon and Glaceon looked at each other at the same time, and their eyes met.

Hail blushed and looked away, and Petal did the same. When they finished eating, Hail stood up, preparing to leave.

"I need to go somewhere," he said to Petal. She shifted were she was, careful not to hurt her injured paw.

"D-Do you have to go?" she asked, looking at the ground. Hail nodded.

"If you want to know, I'm going to look for a pokemon to help with that paw," he said. He walked out of the den and started looking. He was thinking maybe Dawn, Gem, Silk, or Rose might be able to help.

Hail went to Gem's den. He explained the situation to her, and she agreed to help him. The Espeon and Glaceon went back to Hail's den, silent along the way. The walk didn't take too long, but longer than Hail thought it would. They walked the last stretch and into the clearing where Hail's den was.

"Nice den," Gem said. Hail shrugged. They went inside and Hail showed her over to where Petal was.

"Petal, this is Gem," he said, introducing the two. "She can help with your broken paw." Gem sat down and Petal stretched out her injured paw. Gem looked it over.

"It's nothing too serious," she said. "I can help by using pain split. If I do that, you'll have to share her pain Hail, but she'll heal faster, and feel less pain."

Hail blinked and thought in silence. Petal shook her head a few times, trying to tell him not to do it, but he ignored her.

"Well?" Gem cut in, tilting her head. "Will you do it?" Hail sighed and nodded slowly.

"Yes. I'll do it," he decided. "Go ahead, Gem." Gem nodded and prepared to use the move. Her red gem started to glow, and soft blue light surrounded Hail and Petal. Hail began to feel his paw hurt, and he sat down to ease the pain.

Hail looked over at Petal. She seemed to be more relaxed now. He smiled, and she smiled back at him. Gem was finished with the move.

"Thanks Gem," Hail said. Gem nodded and started to walk out of the den.

_'There was actually another way,'_ a voice resounded in Hail's mind. Gem's voice.

_'What do you mean?'_ he thought.

_'To help Petal's paw. I didn't have to use pain split.'_

_'Really? Then why didn't you say so?'_

_'To see… you told me about how you saved her. I wanted to know why. You like her don't you?'_

_'No.'_

_'Don't try to lie to me. I'm a psychic type. I can tell what you're thinking.'_

_ 'Fine… but don't tell anyone okay?'_

_'Alright.'_

That was the end of their silent conversation. Gem left the den, and Hail looked back over at Petal, and she was staring at him.

"Y-You didn't have to do that for me…" she mumbled, looking at her paws.

"But I did," Hail pointed out. "Isn't that what matters?" Petal looked up.

"I-It's just… You're so nice to me… and…" she began. "N-Never mind actually…"

Hail shrugged and lay down. "I think I'll take a nap," he said, before closing his eyes.


	7. Chapter 7

**I appreciate the reviews, AFeralFurry! The line break on the third line of Chapter 6 was just a mistake, and I've gone back and fixed it. I'll also be adding a bit to the beginning of Chapter 6, to make things less... *ahem* awkward. Anyway, onto Chapter 7! Before we go there, however, once again: I do not own Pokemon, this story is here purely for entertainment purposes, and it is not meant to infringe on any copyrights. Also, keep track of the story with the follow button in the upper right, and give it some reviews as well!**

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Petal just stared at the ground. Why was it so hard for her to tell him… about the way she felt? She sighed and looked over at him. He had rescued her from those humans, and she still hadn't done much to show her gratitude. 'How am I supposed to tell him, when I don't even have the courage to thank him properly?' she thought.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard a pokemon at the door of Hail's den.

"Hail? Are you here?" The Leafeon got up and limped slowly to the flap of ice that served as a door. She stepped outside and a Flareon was there.

"You're not Hail," it said. "So… you must be Petal, that Leafeon." Petal tilted her head.

"How did you know?" she asked.

"News gets around fast," the Flareon replied. "Anyway, my name is Flare. I came looking for Hail, but I was just going to ask if I could see you," she said. "So could I come in?" Petal hesitated for a moment before nodding.

Flare stepped inside after Petal. "It's cold in here," she said. Then she sneezed, causing fire to shoot out of her mouth. Petal jumped back with a yelp of surprise, expecting to see a hole in the wall of Hail's den, but nothing happened. The fire just hit the ice and disappeared instantly. Flare walked up to it and gave it a sniff.

"Tough stuff," she said, with a nod of approval.

The Flareon and Leafeon talked with each other in the tree trunk, with Hail sleeping close to them. Petal told Flare about the humans that chased her, how she got captured, and then how Hail had rescued her. She told her about their talk with Thunder, the Jolteon, and told her about what Hail had done when Gem showed up to help heal her paw. Flare listened, interested.

"You like him, don't you?" Flare asked, tilting her head. Petal blushed.

"N-No," she said, looking away from her.

"Uh-huh," Flare replied, completely unconvinced. "Come on, don't lie. Anyone could see that you have feelings for him." Petal just sighed.

"Fine. I do," she said. "But… Don't tell him." Flare just shrugged.

"Whatever you want," she said. They talked for a while longer about other topics, until Hail woke up.

"Flare?" he said, sitting up. "What are you doing here?"

"I was looking for you a while ago. Petal let me in here," she replied. Petal didn't say anything.

"Oh, okay," Hail said. Flare got up.

"I should get going," she said. She walked over to the entrance of the tree trunk and turned back around to Petal, and mouthed the words 'Tell him.' Petal just blushed a little. Hail didn't notice any of it. Flare then left Hail's house to head back to her own den.

Hail lay next to Petal in his den, awake. She was asleep. He looked at her every once in a while. Every time he did, he let out a small sigh. The more he thought about her, the surer he was about his feelings. He did like Petal. A lot.

'Thunder and Gem were right,' he thought. 'I do like her. But I don't want to ruin our friendship, in case she doesn't feel the same way.' He looked over at her again, sighed, and got up, careful not to wake her. 'I need some fresh air.'

He left his den, stepping out into the night. The moon was high in the sky, casting soft white light on the forest floor. It was quiet. Hail breathed in the cold air and walked off in a direction he hadn't gone in before.

Hail tried not to think about Petal. Tried not to think about how they met. Tried not to think about his feelings. He found that those things were the only topics in his mind. He sighed and shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. It didn't work. Thoughts about Petal continued to whiz around his mind.

'Should I tell her?' was the question Hail asked himself over and over. Sometimes he answered yes, sometimes no. 'Give it some time,' Hail eventually decided. 'If I'm very lucky, Petal might feel the same way. And maybe, she'll tell me first.' Hail nodded and turned around to circle back to his den.

He settled down next to Petal again. He glanced at her once again, then rested his head on paws. He closed his eyes and went to sleep, wishing that things will turn out the way he hoped.

* * *

**Bottom filler again! I'd like to apologize for the late upload today. I've been fairly busy today, too busy have gotten onto a computer until now. I also re-wrote Hail's P.O.V. in this chapter, and I'm now going to revise Chapter 6 a bit.**


	8. Bonus Chapter 1

**Oh hi. It's bonus chapter time. So, AFeralFurry, I read your most recent review through e-mail. I really appreciate what you've said so far! (Also, this kind of is Hail's first "relationship" with a girl, so don't expect too much. XD) Anyway, I decided to write up a little bonus chapter, to further humiliate my characters. In my original story, this doesn't happen, and it's all made possible by AFeralFurry. You're awesome, dude. Once again: I do not own Pokemon, this story is here purely for entertainment purposes, and it is not meant to infringe on any copyrights. Also, keep track of the story with the follow button in the upper right, and give it some reviews as well!**

* * *

The next morning had been fairly uneventful and quiet. Hail and Petal had woken up, said their "good mornings," and eaten a small breakfast of berries. But other than those single morning greetings, they had not said a single word to each other. Although they would secretly constantly look at each other, then look away with a blush on their faces.

"I think I need some time alone today," they both blurted at the same time. They looked at each other. "Wait what?" again, in unison.

"I was going to take a walk alone," Hail said.

"And I was going to ask if I could be alone in here for today," Petal replied. "Wait... we're still friends right?" Hail nodded quickly.

"Yeah, of course," he forced out, though he desperately wanted to be more than that. Hail's reply sent a wave of disappointment over Petal.

"Well... Have fun," Petal said. Hail nodded and turned to leave, but hesitated.

"Can I come with you?" Petal asked, at the same time that Hail turned around and asked, "Can you come with me?" They blinked and looked at each other, then both nodded.

"Are you going to be okay?" Hail asked as Petal got up gingerly. She nodded.

"I think so," she answered. "Though I might need some... help." She blushed and looked at her paws, realizing the mistake she had just made. 'This is too much,' she thought to herself.

Hail nodded and offered his shoulder for her to lean on, looking away to hide his blush. Petal reluctantly accepted his help. The two left his den together and walked in the direction of the lake. For a while, they were silent.

"It's funny, isn't it?" Hail asked, breaking the silence. Petal blinked. "How we wanted to be alone today... But ended up together anyway." Petal nodded.

"I suppose it's because we enjoy each other's company," she replied. "I-I mean... I like being with you," she said quickly.

"I-I like spending time with you too..." Hail said, blushing a little.

'This is perfect! Just say the words and tell him!' Petal thought, practically screaming at herself. "H-Hail?" she asked.

"Y-Yeah?"

"I-..." she trailed off. 'Spit it out! Just confess!' she thought. "I-It's nothing actually..."

Hail's ears drooped slightly. He was prepared to tell her about... his feelings, but the way their conversation had just ended, he didn't feel like it was the right time. They were silent after that, wrapped up in their own thoughts. They eventually made it to the lake, where they sat down together and watched the surface of the water.

"H-Hail? W-We're... friends, right?" she asked, forcing out the dreadful "f" word. Hail nodded, the word hitting him like a punch. "C-Can I... Maybe stay in your den permanently?" she asked, her cheeks turning red. Hail's gaze snapped up.

"Yes," he answered quickly. His cheeks flushed red. "Y-Yes... I- I mean, I have enough room... A-And... W-Well, yes." Petal smiled a little and nodded.

"Thank you," she said. "For everything you've done." Hail's cheeks turned redder.

"I-It's nothing," he said with a cough. "A-And Petal?"

"Y-Yes?" she asked, her hopes rising a bit. Hail opened his mouth to say the words, but nothing came out. 'I love you, I love you, I love you,' kept repeating in his mind, but his mouth wouldn't speak.

"Is your paw any better?" he asked after a while. 'Stupid. Now you've changed the subject,' he thought. Petal's ears drooped.

"Yeah, I think so," she mumbled. She coughed. "Should we get back to your den?" Hail nodded. The two began the walk back, Petal close to Hail in case she needed his help. She was walking with an obvious limp, to witch Hail reacted with silent worry. After a while of silence, Petal took a sharp breath as she slipped a little.

"Are you okay?" Hail asked instantly, as Petal regained her footing.

"I'm fine," she answered, her cheeks red. 'Now you've gone and done it. You just had to make yourself look like an idiot in front of him,' she thought. The rest of the walk was filled with, again, silence. The two arrived at Hail's den, went inside, and sat down across from each other in the tree trunk.

Petal shivered. "H-Hail... I hate to say it, but it's freezing in here," she said. Hail's cheeks flushed red. 'You just HAD to make it out of ice, didn't you?' he asked himself. He took a deep breath and moved to her side, pressing himself against her. She flinched, then relaxed.

"S-Sorry," Hail apologized immediately. "Y-You just said you were cold, and... W-Well, this was the only solution I could think of." Petal rested her head on her paws and closed her eyes, feeling comfortable.

"I-It's fine... I-I kind of like it," she said absentmindedly. Then she realized what she had just said, her eyes shot open, and she blushed. "T-That's not weird for you, is it?" Hail blushed and shook his head.

"N-No, not at all," he replied. Then he coughed, hoping that maybe, Petal would say something. Petal stayed silent, hoping that Hail might continue. The moment passed. 'You've wasted three good chances, just today,' he thought, scolding himself. 'That must be a new record.'

"I-I'm going to take a nap," Petal told him, closing her eyes again. "I'll go for another walk when I wake up." Hail nodded. Soon, Petal's breathing became steady and quiet, and her flank rose and fell rhythmically. Hail sighed and decided to wait for her to wake up.


	9. Chapter 8

**Lots of re-writing, I tell you. So, because of the Bonus Chapter yesterday, I decided to re-write this chapter to make it more interesting and detailed. That's really all I have to say, other than giving another shoutout to Feral (AFeralFurry). Once again: I do not own Pokemon, this story is here purely for entertainment purposes, and it is not meant to infringe on any copyrights. Also, keep track of the story with the follow button in the upper right, and give it some reviews as well! Enjoy!**

* * *

Hail and Petal walked side by side, somewhat near the lake. They tried to avoid thinking about each other, but they found each other was the only thing they could think of. Petal then tripped on a tree root, only to be caught by Hail's shoulder. She looked up into his eyes, then looked away, blushing, when his gaze met hers.

"T-Thanks," she mumbled, angry at herself.

"You don't need to thank me for something like that," Hail said. Petal looked at him.

"Maybe I do. You've done so much for me," she replied. "And I've done nothing in return." Hail's cheeks turned red and he looked away.

"I- I don't do things for you because I want something in return, you know," he said. They were silent after that. They walked for hours, making their rounds around the lake, Hail's den, and eventually, the entire forest. Most of the time, they kept to their selves, and the silence was broken only by crunching leaves under paw, the wind rustling through the trees, and the splash of water in the distance.

"We should start to head back," Hail said, breaking the silence. Petal looked up at the sky, and saw that the sun was just starting to set.

"Wow… Have we really been walking for that long?" she asked. Hail nodded.

"Apparently." The two started for home.

"So… Uhm… Hail?" Petal asked.

"Yeah?"

"All this stuff I've asked you for… L-Like if I could s-sleep with you, or if I could stay in your den… I-It doesn't creep you out, does it?" she asked, blushing. Hail's cheeks turned a light crimson color and he shook his head.

"N-No, of course not," he answered. "I-It's fine. I don't mind, really." Petal nodded, though she felt unconvinced. They were silent after that, until they reached the lake.

"I need a drink," Petal said. She walked to the edge of the lake and began to lap at the water. Hail sat next to her and stared at the surface. When Petal was done, she looked up and next to her at Hail, who seemed to be distant.

"H-Hail? Is something wrong?" she asked, snapping him out of his daze. He looked at her, meeting her gaze, and shook his head.

"Just… Look over the water." Petal tilted her head and did what she was told, and gasped. The water was tinted a beautiful reddish-orange color by the sunset, and it seemed to sparkle. The sun was setting in clear view right in front of them. Both the sun and moon's reflection could be seen in the water, making it look all the more mystical.

"It's beautiful," she breathed. Without thinking, she rested her head on Hail's shoulder. His cheeks turned red, but he didn't move. When Petal realized what she had just done, she blushed. She opened her mouth to apologize, but Hail shook his head.

"It's okay," he said. He looked back over the water. 'This is the perfect moment,' he thought. 'Don't you dare waste this chance.' This time, the voice in his head wasn't shouting at him. Petal was thinking the same thing. She took a deep breath.

"H-Hail?" she asked. He looked at her and into her eyes. Petal blushed but she didn't look away.

"Y-Yeah?"

"I-I just want to thank you," she said. "For everything you've done for me. It means so much." Hail nodded, blushing.

"You don't need to thank me," he replied. He took a deep breath and managed to get out the words, "I would do anything for you." Petal's blush deepened.

"Y-You would?" she asked. "Why?"

"I-I've been getting this… feeling. Ever since I've met you," he said. Petal's heart started to beat faster.

"R-Really?" she asked. "W-What is that feeling?" Hail's heart began to beat faster as well. He took a deep breath. Hail closed the distance between them, meeting her in a kiss. **A/N: Yes, Pokemon can kiss. ** His cheeks turned redder and he closed his eyes.

Petal's eyes widened, and she blushed even more. Then she closed her eyes and leaned in, deepening it. It was very cold, but strangely... warm at the same time. They kissed for a long time, and Hail withdrew when the sun had sunk below the horizon.

"S-Sorry," he stammered, staring at his paws. "I-I went too far. P-Please forgive me."

"I-It was fine," Petal mumbled, though loud enough for him to hear. Hail raised his head to look at her again. "I- I love you."

"I l-love you too, Petal," he breathed. Petal blushed again and leaned in, kissing him. She closed her eyes. Hail blushed, before he closed his eyes and returned the kiss. This kiss was much longer, and more passionate. As they were wrapped in each other's loving embrace, the gentle lap of water and the quiet rush of wind could be heard on that beautiful evening.


	10. Update

**Update Time.**

**So, as you (hopefully) know, this story was not originally intended to be uploaded to the Internet. Because of that, around 30 more chapters have already been written by me. However, the story has already changed dramatically. With the addition of a bonus chapter, I completely re-wrote Chapter 8. This may cause some changes to the story in the future, causing some late uploads, and maybe even some days without a single upload. I promise that those changes are all to make the story better though. The way I see it, I'll probably be re-doing most of the story from here on out. I personally don't like the way Chapters 20-27 play out. The chapters before and after that are decent enough, though I'll probably still change some of the wording, and maybe add in a couple chapters too. Essentially, uploads may be a bit less frequent from now on, but that's only to make the story more enjoyable for all of you.**


	11. Chapter 9

**By the way, I never did mention any P.O.V. switches, did I? Oops. Well, we'll be focusing on a couple of different characters now for a few chapters. You didn't actually think that Hail was a main character, did you? Well, he's not. Neither is Petal. Anyway, now to introduce Thunder and Flare a bit more. So, originally, this chapter sucked. Period. So I've completely re-written the part after their battle, expanding it from half a page to 1 and a half pages. Also, I actually decided to start naming some places. Now, before we get to the story, once again: I do not own Pokemon, this story is here purely for entertainment purposes, and it is not meant to infringe on any copyrights. Also, keep track of the story with the follow button in the upper right, and give it some reviews as well! Enjoy!**

* * *

Thunder and Flare circled each other, both waiting for the other to attack. Both had some injuries, they had been fighting for a while. Thunder made the first move. He ran in with a quick attack, but Flare jumped out of the way. She countered with flamethrower, and Thunder jumped over the ray of fire. He used double-team while he was in the air, and copies of him landed and surrounded Flare.

Flare glanced back and forth between the copies of Thunder. She started raising her body temperature. The area suddenly exploded with flames; Flare had used overheat. All of Thunder's copies disappeared, but she still didn't see Thunder.

"Got you!" Thunder's voice called. She looked up, and Thunder was coming down at her. Electricity surrounded him, so much in fact, that she could feel her fur spiking up a little. He crashed down into her, using volt tackle.

"You win," Flare said, falling over. She lay on the ground, exhausted. "That was a good battle." Both the Flareon and the Jolteon were breathing hard. Thunder smiled. He flopped down next to her.

"That was pretty great, what you did with the double-team," Flare said. Thunder just shrugged, but it was obvious that he was pleased.

"The way you handled it was good too," he replied. "I didn't think you would use overheat that way." Flare smiled and scoffed.

"You don't think at all," she teased. "Maybe that's why you're so good at battling." Thunder smiled.

"Hey, you're just as good as me," he responded. "You won the last battle, remember?" Flare shrugged.

"Yeah, but you were distracted with that Glaceon," she said. "When you were talking to him, I got in a flamethrower. That pretty much won me the match." Thunder rolled his eyes.

"That would've happened anyway," he said. "Either way, you've beaten me just as many times as I've won against you."

"I guess that's true," Flare said. She sat up and her ears twitched. "Rematch in a couple days?" she asked. Thunder smiled.

"Just like always," he responded, before getting up. Flare did the same. "I'm getting kind of hungry," he said. Flare rolled her eyes.

"Okay, let's find something to eat," she suggested. The two first looked around the near vicinity. Thunder picked out a couple oran berries, and an aguav berry for Flare. Flare managed a sitrus berry, a leppa berry, and a figy berry for Thunder.

"Jeez, I'm starving," Thunder complained. His stomach rumbled to prove his point. "Could we eat these first, and maybe look for more later?" Flare sighed.

"Sure," she decided. "I can't believe you're already this hungry though. Your stomach must be-" Flare's stomach growled, cutting her off. Her cheeks turned red. Thunder chuckled.

"Oh sorry, what was that about me?" he teased. Flare looked away.

"Whatever," she mumbled. "Let's just eat." Thunder nodded. He went straight for the figy berry, biting into the soft, oddly shaped treat. Flare bit a chunk off of an oran berry, enjoying the mixture of flavors in it.

"Hey Flare?" Thunder asked when the berries were all finished, except for the one that Flare was eating.

"Yeah?" she asked, between bites of the aguav berry.

"Are you still hungry?" Flare finished her berry and discarded the stem.

"Yes."

"Good. So am I," Thunder said. "Though I'm kind of sick of berries… Hey, you know that town near here?" Flare tilted her head.

"What about it?" she asked.

"Do you want to head over there?" he asked. "I've got some extra poke to spend, and it's not like much is happening right now." Flare thought about it and smiled.

"Yeah sure, it'll be fun," she replied. "Why not? I could use a little trip." Thunder smiled and ran off.

"Then come on!" he shouted.

"Wait right now?" Flare asked, but Thunder was already gone. She sighed and took off after him. She found him waiting at the edge of the forest for her. "Jeez Thunder, you run too fast," she complained, breathing hard. He smiled.

"Thanks," he said. He turned and left the forest, crossing onto a huge field that led the way to the Twin Towns, a place inhabited by people and pokemon alike. Flare looked at the sky, then at the seemingly endless expanse of grass, field flowers, and wheat ahead of them.

"I think we'll be able to make it before sunset," she estimated. Thunder nodded.

"Well, then we better shut up and start now, if we want to get there before then!" He replied, before running off once again. Flare silently cursed and groaned before running after him. She started losing ground, and before she knew it, Thunder was too far ahead to even see. She kept running anyway, and eventually found him waiting for her.

"Let… Me… Take… A… Break…" Flare said, trying to catch her breath. Thunder rolled his eyes. He looked behind him, back at their home in the forest. The outline of trees and a mountain were visible, but they were a good distance away.

"I think we must be in the middle of One Way Plains by now," he assumed.

"What makes you think that?" she asked. "And why is it called that again?"

"Well, it's called One Way Plains because only the pokemon who live in that direction use it," he said, jerking his head back the way they had come. "Anyone who ever uses this route pretty much always goes in the same direction." Flare nodded.

"As for halfway… I'm just guessing," he admitted. Flare smiled.

"Then you're probably wrong," she teased. She looked up at the sky again. "But if you are right, we're making great time." Thunder smiled.

"Then let's keep making great time. Are you ready to continue?" he asked. Flare nodded. Thunder ran off again. Flare just rolled her eyes, expecting it that time, and took off after him. She managed to keep pace with him, but she figured that he was going slower on purpose. Eventually, the outline of buildings of the human side of Twin Towns could be seen.

Flare looked up at the sky again. The sun was still fairly high up, and they had quite a few hours until sunset. She looked forward again, only to see that Thunder had disappeared. She put on an extra burst of speed, practically sprinting the rest of the distance to the first area of Twin Towns.

Thunder was at the entrance. It seemed like he had arrived not too long ago. Flare stopped running and called out to him. Thunder turned around with a look of surprise on his face.

"Wow, you've gotten faster," he commented. Flare smiled as she panted to catch her breath.

"Thanks," she said. Thunder looked behind her, over at One Way Plains.

"I can't believe you ran all that way with only one short break," Thunder said. Flare smiled.

"After being around you for so long, I've started to get faster," she said. Thunder smiled.

"Well then, care for one more run?" he asked, before shooting into town. Flare smiled and went after him, taking in the sights of buildings, fountains, and lights as she dashed behind Thunder.


	12. Chapter 10

**Whew, long chapter. I'm surprised I managed to get this finished. Now... A quick explanation of how Twin Towns works. So in the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon games, the pokemon have already developed a society and style of living similar to humans. I wanted to exaggerate that here. The humans living so close next to the pokemon has caused their society to become almost exactly like the humans'. Also, on a side note, we've hit 500 views! You can probably expect a bonus chapter today, or maybe not. A bonus chapter will definitely happen sometime, but I'm not sure when. Anyway, before we get to the story, I want to clarify that Thunder nor Flare are main characters either. So who is/are the main character(s)? Everyone. Huehuehue. Once again: Once again: I do not own Pokemon, this story is here purely for entertainment purposes, and it is not meant to infringe on any copyrights. Also, keep track of the story with the follow button in the upper right, and give it some reviews as well! Enjoy!**

* * *

"Look here," Thunder said to Flare. The two were standing in front of a large panel, displaying what looked like a map. "We're here, on the pokemon side of Twin Towns." A small pokeball was displayed on the map, with the words 'You are here.' on it. "If we head this way and take a left at this fountain, we'll end up at this café here." Flare looked behind the panel, and saw the fountain not too far away.

"Then let's go!" she exclaimed, running off. "I'm starving!" Thunder smiled and followed. There weren't many other pokemon out and about on the large streets lined with trees, grass, and bush. He looked around, taking in the sights. Short buildings were all around, dwarfed by the skyscrapers in the distance behind them, the ones in the human side.

The sun had just began to set, but street lights had already turned on. The soft white light, combined with the sun's setting rays bathed the stone brick streets in a pretty mixture of light. Up ahead was a fountain that seemed to glow. Thunder slowed down to take the scene in. The small square there served as a crossroads, with four individual streets branching off from it. The hub was built in a circular fashion, surrounded by plants, flowers, and small trees. Some Pokemon were sitting around the fountain. Two Raichu who seemed to be a couple were watching a few Pichu run around. Thunder assumed that they were their children.

As he was walking closer to the fountain, looking around for Flare, a Cubone ran by, dragging a Marowak by the hand behind it. Thunder stopped to let the two run past. When he reached the fountain, a couple Drifloon floated over, with a Drifblim following.

"Thunder!" Thunder turned when he heard Flare calling him. Flare was already decently far down the path to the left. She was standing near a small building with a pole jutting out, which held a sign that he couldn't read from where he was.

"Coming!" he shouted back before running towards her. When he reached her, he asked, "What's this building?" Flare rolled her eyes.

"Didn't you read the sign?" she asked. "This is the café we were looking for." Thunder took a look at the wooden slab, which read: "_Couplets' Cafe."_

"Well I did now," he said. Flare smiled. "Anyway, let's eat!" Flare nodded, and the two of them walked through the small outside gate. There were a few outdoor tables, made of white metal. Pink umbrellas shaded them. The two decided on outdoor seating and waited for a pokemon to come along.

Soon, a Frillish came out of the doors of the café. He saw the two and floated over to them. "Here is the menu," he said, placing down a small booklet. "Would you like to hear about our special couples' menu?" Thunder smiled and Flare chuckled.

"No, we're not a couple," he said. The Frillish's jaw dropped a bit as he looked between the two. "Just friends." He blinked and nodded before taking his leave.

"Well that was…" Flare began, with a huge grin.

"…Awkward." Thunder finished. They looked at each other and laughed. "Whatever. Let's see what this place has to offer." After looking over the menu, Thunder decided on steamed salmon with grilled onions, topped with a variety of herbs. **A/N: Yes, all these exist in the Pokemon world. I've done my research. Check out the game ****_Hey you, Pikachu! _****If you don't believe me****_._**Flare went for a more human-type meal, seared scallops in a roasted garlic cream. **A/N: Yes, pokemon can eat human food too.**

They waited until the Frillish came back. They told him what they wanted, and he said that their orders would be ready shortly.

"It's pretty late," Thunder said, watching the sunset. Flare nodded. "Why don't we stay somewhere around here for tonight?" Flare shrugged.

"Sounds good," she answered, staring off into the distance.

"Hey, are you okay?" Thunder asked.

"Huh?" Flare replied. "Oh. Yeah. I was just thinking about what that Frillish said earlier. He mistook us for a couple." Thunder blinked, staying silent. "I wonder if we really would be good together."

"Maybe," Thunder replied. He stared off into the distance as well, thinking. Then the two shook their heads, looked at each other, and smiled.

"No way," they both said at the same time. They laughed. Just then, the Frillish came back, holding two platters with his tentacles. He set down the dishes in front of Thunder and Flare, respectively.

As soon as he left, Thunder and Flare began to hungrily devour the food. They didn't stop to talk to each other until all the food had been eaten.

"Whew, I'm stuffed," Flare said with a sigh. Thunder smiled and nodded.

"Sure beats the stuff at home," he said. He stared off at the horizon, where the sun had just dipped below. "I'm enjoying this little trip."

"Yeah," Flare agreed. She thought of an idea, and suggested, "What if everyone back home went on a little getaway?" Thunder looked at her.

"Right after we're done here?" he asked. Flare grinned.

"Why not?" she asked.

"Sure. It'd be fun," he agreed. The conversation ended there, and the Frillish came back. Thunder paid for the meal using poke out of a pouch around his neck, then he and Flare left to wander around the town.

The sun had all but disappeared at this point. Thunder and Flare took a bit of a tour around the area. They walked around for a bit, until reaching another crossroads with a statue in the middle.

The bronze statue featured a Pokemon. It had short, stubby legs. Comparatively, it had larger arms with flaps on the underside. On its belly was a curved seam. On its face were two eyes with small, triangular markings under them. On its head was a star shaped structure, but with only three points. On each point was a rectangular tag. In addition, round extensions hung from each side of the star shape, framing the face. Two streamers flowed from the pokemon's back, giving the impression of comet tails.

"I wonder which Pokemon this is," Flare said. Thunder shrugged.

"Your guess is as good as mine," he replied. He circled around the statue, and found an inscription on the other side. "Hey, there's something here!" Flare went over to take a look. The words inscribed read:

**_Jirachi, the wish Pokemon. This legendary Pokemon is awake for only one week every 1,000 years, but it can also be awoken if sung to by a voice of purity. In the short time it is awake, it has the ability to grant wishes._**

"A legendary pokemon huh?" Thunder said. "That sounds pretty cool. I wonder where Jirachi even is?" Flare shrugged.

"It doesn't say here," she answered. "It must be extremely hard to find." There was silence after that, as Flare and Thunder pondered about this strange Pokemon. "If you somehow did meet Jirachi… What would you wish for?" she asked, suddenly breaking the silence.

"That's a tough question," he answered. "Hmm…" Flare thought about it too.

"Power? Poke?" Flare asked, suggesting the first things that came to mind. "Love?" Thunder shook his head.

"A lifetime supply of food," he said with a huge grin. Flare rolled her eyes.

"Of course," she said. "Now that I think about it though, a lifetime supply of food sounds like a pretty good wish." Thunder nodded.

"Right?" he agreed. "Anyway, I really enjoy this kind of stuff. Seeing these kind of things. I don't know why." Flare nodded.

"It's… interesting?" she offered. Thunder smiled.

"Well yeah, but I feel like there's something more to it," he replied. "Because, someone has to have seen Jirachi before for this to exist, right?" he asked. "And then, Jirachi sounds pretty rare. So what if he doesn't even exist?" Flare thought about what he said.

"Huh. Put it that way, and it's a whole lot more interesting," she said. Thunder smiled. Flare looked around. "This area is really big. I think it could be the main square of this part of town," she speculated. "So that means… Maybe if we go to the human side, there'll be another statue there?"

"Then let's go find out!" he exclaimed, ready to dash off. Flare quickly set up a barrier using protect, and Thunder slammed straight into it.

"Not so fast," she said. Thunder turned around, annoyed. "It's really late. We can check the other side tomorrow. For now, let's find somewhere to get some rest." Thunder reluctantly agreed, and the two started to make their way through the town, looking for another map and a place to sleep.

Thunder suddenly stopped. "Wait… Are you even tired, Flare?" he asked. He felt fully awake, full of energy just waiting to be spent.

"No." Thunder laughed. "Still though. We'll probably be tired tomorrow if we don't get some sleep tonight."

"Sure, _probably,_" he repeated, putting emphasis on that second word. Flare just shrugged. "Hey, look over there!" Flare turned to see a bright sign, reading **_Hoothoot Hootel_**. **A/N: Huehuehuehue puns.**

"Looks good enough for tonight," she commented before dashing through the glass doors. Thunder followed. A Hoothoot was slumped over in the lobby desk. "Hey! Are you okay?" Flare asked. The pokemon shot up instantly and blinked a few times, then his eyes widened.

"Don't tell my boss I was sleeping!" he begged. Flare blinked.

"Sure n-" she began, but she was cut off by him again.

"Welcome to Hoothoot Hootel. The time is currently 0137. Would you like a room tonight?"** A/N: I use military time. 0137 o'clock is equal to 1:37 A.M. standard time.** He asked.

"Quick change in attitude," Thunder whispered to Flare. She nodded.

"Yes please," she said to the Hoothoot. He nodded and turned, opening a large drawer.

"Ahh, good," he said. He turned back to the two with a card in his beak. "Lucky for you two, this is the last available room for pokemon between a height of 0.3 meters and 1 meter." Flare nodded a thanks, and took the key card.

Thunder and Flare paid using poke and took their leave. Flare held the card in her mouth as the two roamed through hallways, searching for their room. They eventually found it, and Flare slid the card into a slot to open a door.

The room was essentially a modified version of a typical human's room. It was large, wooden, with a strange nest against the wall, made of cloths and fabric.

"Huh. So this is how humans sleep," Flare guessed, settling down on the soft material. Thunder shrugged.

"It's comfortable, but I wouldn't want to sleep on something like this every night," he commented. "Still though, decent enough." Flare nodded in agreement. She could tell that an awkward silence would follow, so she decided to say something.

"So… What now?" she asked. Thunder tilted his head.

"Sleep, obviously," he replied.

"Well… Before that," she clarified.

"We could just chat about things," Thunder suggested. Flare shrugged.

"It beats doing nothing," she said. "Anyway… What are your opinions on that Jirachi pokemon? Like, what do you think he's like?" Thunder looked up, thinking.

"Well… He sure must have a good life, getting to sleep for 1,000 years at a time," he began. Flare rolled her eyes. "But then again, I'd probably get hungry if I slept for that long." Flare chuckled.

"The only things you think about are food and sleep," she teased. Thunder smiled.

"Don't pretend like you don't think about those things too," he countered. Flare was about to say something when Thunder yawned.

"Oh you're tired?" she asked. He opened his mouth to protest, but shut it and nodded. "Then let's get some sleep." Thunder agreed and curled up. He shut his eyes, falling asleep almost instantaneously.

Flare chuckled and listened to his steady breathing. She tried to sleep as well, but found that she wasn't the slightest bit tired. She sighed and looked over at Thunder before deciding to take a walk. She made her way through the maze of hallways until she reached the lobby again, where the Hoothoot from before was again, slumped over on his desk, snoozing.

Flare stifled a laugh and crept quietly out the doors into open air. She wandered around for a bit, unsure of where to go, before remembering about the Jirachi statue. 'Oh yeah,' she thought. 'Thunder wanted to see if there was another statue like it over in the human side of town.' She located a map, then, following its directions, headed west towards a large gate.

A human guard was sitting there, watching for people and pokemon crossing between the two portions of town. When he noticed Flare, he called out to her.

"Hello, little Flareon," he greeted her, with a nod. All he heard in response was a 'Fla-Flareon!', though in reality, Flare had said, "Hello, but please don't call me little!" The human smiled and chuckled.

"Okay, big Flareon," he said. Flare's eyes widened. "The guards here have to be able to understand pokespeech," he explained. Flare nodded, smiled, and ran into the human side. "You be careful now!" he called after her.

Flare dashed through the much wider streets. 'These paths are really large,' she thought. 'I wonder why?' She didn't ponder it any longer and continued to run, looking for another statue. Eventually she saw it in the distance, a large bronze figure sitting on a stone pedestal. She stopped in front of it.

This statue depicted a fairy-like pokemon. It had rounded feet, three fingered hands, and a pair of wings on its back. It had a round head that came to a curved point, and a pair of antennae. Finally, on its face was a pair of large eyes, with rings around them. She began to circle around the statue, looking for a description. Suddenly, something hit her hard in the back of the head and she fell to the ground, knocked out cold.


	13. Bonus Chapter 2

**Wow! 500 views! *Confetti pops* What a milestone! And you know what a milestone means... It's bonus chapter time! To be perfectly fair and honest, I began writing this when I saw that I had accumulated 499 views, but that doesn't matter. In fact, I didn't actually finish this until 520 views had been reached, but hey, it's a fairly long chapter. Anyway, I thought I'd take the liberty of telling the story of how this dynamic electric and fire type duo met. Once again: I do not own Pokemon, this story is here purely for entertainment purposes, and it is not meant to infringe on any copyrights. Also, keep track of the story using the follow button in the upper right, and give it some reviews as well! Enjoy!**

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Flare stood at the edge of a forest, peering through the trees and brush to see if she could spot anything. "Well... I guess this is the place..." she whispered to herself before taking a step inside. She decided to explore around quietly, as not to alert anyone of her presence. At first, she walked along slowly, casting her gaze over every single tree, every single bush, and every single stalk off grass. Eventually, she began to pick up speed. Soon enough she was running, bored of the infinite number of green plant life. She only slowed to investigate changes in the terrain or surrounding area, such as when she heard the sounds of water.

"Hey, that's not fair!" a voice rang out, loud and clear. Flare froze for a second, before creeping quietly towards the noise. She peered out from behind a bush, and saw a small lake with pidgey and other small pokemon hopping around nearby. As her gaze traveled over the water, she detected movement from the corner of her eye. She focused on a splash of water, seeing a Jolteon swimming about in the lake. She tilted her head, confused at this. Suddenly a Vaporeon appeared out of nowhere, standing on the water.

"That's a neat trick," the voice said again. Flare identified it as this Jolteon.

"T-Thanks," the Vaporeon said shyly. "We've been in here for a long time. We should take a break."

"Aww, I thought you loved swimming more than anything Stream!" The Jolteon protested. The Vaporeon shook her head.

"Not more than anything," she said. "But it is near the top of my list." The Jolteon sighed.

"Fine, we'll take a break," he said before not so gracefully splashing to the shore. He dragged himself out of the water and shook his fur, flinging water everywhere. The Vaporeon jumped out right next to him, but she didn't mind the flying droplets. She shook her own pelt dry. Flare decided to take her leave at this point, not wanting to let the two know that she was there. She started backing up, only to freeze when she snapped a twig, the sound echoing throughout the clearing.

Flare sucked in a breath. She turned to see what the Jolteon and Vaporeon were doing. The Vaporeon was whispering something into the Jolteon's ear, while he was staring straight in Flare's direction. Suddenly he charged forward, running straight at her. She let out a yelp and tried to scramble backwards, only to trip. The Jolteon crashed through a bush and landed on her, pinning her down.

"Who. Are. You." The Jolteon asked aggressively. Flare coughed out some dust and turned to stare into his eyes.

"Someone who you don't need to know," she replied. The Jolteon's ears twitched.

"Answer my question," he said. "Or-"

"Or what?" Flare asked. "You'll hurt me? I highly doubt it. Your eyes tell me that you're only curious." The Jolteon stayed silent before stepping off her. She got up to her paws and shook the dirt from her pelt.

"You know, I can see the curiousness in your eyes as well," he commented. "Which is why I got off you. You're not going to attack me. So, why don't you tell me who you are?" Flare thought about whether she should tell him, or whether she should decline and stalk off. She decided on the former. It would be nice to stop having to run away from her life.

"Fine... My name is Flare," she told him. The Jolteon nodded.

"I'm Thunder," he introduced. "Now, why are you here?" Flare hesitated. She could either reply coldly, saying that it was none of his business, she could tell him half the truth, or... she could open up to him completely. She opened her mouth, intending to tell a half-lie, but before she knew it, the words came pouring out.

"I have no idea who my parents are, to start. As an Eevee, my trainer would always hurt and abuse me, telling his other pokemon to attack me to train them, instead of training on wild pokemon," she began, her voice beginning to quiver. "Eventually, I couldn't take it any longer. I always tried to run away whenever he would send me out of my pokeball... and I think he eventually just got fed up with it. So he tried to..." her voice cracked. "He tried to kill me. By burning me alive in a fire." Thunder's eyes widened. Flare noticed that her legs were wobbly, and tears were threatening to form in her eyes, but she took a shaky breath and continued.

"It was... terrible. The pain was worse than anything I've ever felt before. It was so bad that I couldn't do anything other than lay there and wait for my life to end," she continued. "I saw a flash of white. Suddenly, the pain was lessening and I felt warmth begin growing inside me. Not a painful warmth though... The warmth of evolving into a Flareon. I don't know how it happened. All I know is that I immediately ran, away from my trainer, away from that dreaded house, away from my life." Flare felt tears streaming down her cheeks at this point, and she looked down at her paws.

"Wow..." Thunder breathed, his jaw open. "T-Thank you for telling me all of that. It must be... hard." Flare sniffed.

"No kidding," she said. "You're the first living being I've told." Thunder blinked.

"But why me?" he asked. Flare found that she couldn't answer that question.

"I... I don't know," she replied. "But... It feels good to finally have told someone. I've been running for so long... I never looked back... And I want to stop running. Is it okay if I live in this forest?"

"I don't have the authority to decide that," Thunder admitted. "But, of course. If my mother and the other two parents here disagree, I'll just have to fight them." Flare looked up.

"If those three are anything like you, then I doubt they'll disagree after hearing my story," she said. Thunder smiled.

"They're very kind pokemon," he assured. "They'd be quick to accept you, even without listening to you talk." Flare blinked.

"Then... is it okay if I don't tell them?" she asked. "I'd like to keep this whole thing a secret..." Thunder nodded. Flare smiled. "Now... about the first question you asked me... My name is Flare, and I challenge you to a battle!" she declared, tackling him. Thunder seemed surprised for a second, before counter attacking by releasing a jolt of electricity, crashing down onto her.

Flare jumped back to surprise and confuse him, and shot a barrage of small flames from her mouth. Thunder managed to dodge the ember attack by jumping to the side with quick attack, then he shot forward, running at Flare with lightning fast speed. She lunged at him with her own quick attack, and the two pokemon met head on, at a standstill for a moment before they both jumped back.

Thunder lashed out by kicking twice in quick succession with his hind legs. Flare ducked under the first kick and latched onto Thunder's other leg by sinking her fangs into it, careful not to draw blood. He smiled and said, "You've made a mistake." A jolt of electricity emanated outward from his fur, intended to paralyze her. When it hit Flare, she disappeared.

"Did I?" Flare appeared out of nowhere, cloaked in flames and charged at Thunder. He reacted quickly, creating his own coat of electricity to counter. The two attacks met, and again they were at a standstill, until Flare put on an extra burst of speed, overpowering him. She rammed him with flame charge, shoving him backwards. She was about to attack him again when a pulsing blast of water hit her, causing her to cry out and fall to the ground.

A Vaporeon jumped out of nowhere and pinned her down before she knew what was happening. She looked up into the Vaporeon's eyes and saw anger in them. She opened her mouth, preparing an attack. Flare gritted her teeth and closed her eyes, waiting for it to hit. Suddenly, the Vaporeon's weight shifted, and she could feel a strong jet of water blasting the ground just next to her face.

Flare opened her eyes and saw that Thunder had knocked the Vaporeon off. "What are you doing Stream?" he asked incredulously. The Vaporeon, now identified as Stream, had a look of confusion on her face.

"Wasn't she hurting you?" she asked. Thunder looked back at Flare and shook his head.

"No. We were just having a friendly battle," he said.

"Who is she anyway?" she asked.

"Her name's Flare," Thunder said. "She-" he began, before remembering that Flare's story was supposed to be private. He looked back at her for permission, and she shook her head. "Well, why don't you listen to Flare explain?" Stream nodded and turned to Flare. Before Flare could say anything though, she opened her mouth to speak.

"I'm sorry about attacking you," she apologized. Flare shrugged.

"It's fine, you didn't know," she said. "Anyway, there's not that much of a story. I've been traveling for a few months now, from a place far away. I heard about this forest in Twin Towns, so I came here," she said, reciting a memorized monologue. "I'm hoping to settle down here now." Stream nodded.

"You don't seem like a bad pokemon, so okay," Stream said. She turned to Thunder. "Want to go for another swim?"

"Nah, I think I want to finish my battle with Flare," he replied. Stream hid a look of disappointment. She glanced between the two before nodding and turning around, heading back towards the lake.

"Now... where were we?" Thunder asked, smiling, as he turned back to Flare. She grinned.

"Here," she answered before shooting an array of small flames at him. Thunder was ready for this though, and he released a jolt of electricity, canceling out her ember attack. Flare ran at him with quick attack, and Thunder dodged to the left. Flare was expecting this though, and had already changed her direction, hitting him in the side. Thunder recovered quickly and used double kick again, both blows connecting to Flare's body.

The battle went back and forth like this for a while.

Flare and Thunder stood opposite from each other, breathing heavily. Both had sustained damage. They charged at each other one more time, Flare cloaked in flames, and Thunder cloaked in electricity. They rammed into each other, determined to be the one to win. Eventually, the two attacks burnt away, and both pokemon fell to the ground. Flare hit the ground first, and Thunder collapsed on top of her.

"You win," Flare said.

"No, you win," Thunder said, smiling. Flare shook her head.

"I hit the ground before you," she protested. "You win."

"Only because I'm taller," he argued. "And also because I sort of landed on top of you." Flare smiled.

"Well then can you get off?" she asked. "You're heavy." Thunder chuckled and rolled off her.

"That was a good battle," he said. "We should have a rematch sometime." Flare nodded.

"How about in a few days?" she asked. "That'll give us time to recover, and we can still have time in between for other things." Thunder nodded.

"That sounds like a good idea," he agreed. "We'll fight again in a few days. You'll probably win though." Flare smiled.

"No way," she said. "It's obvious that you'll win." She sat up, and Thunder did the same.

"I doubt it. Not in a million years," he said. They looked at each other and laughed. They helped each other up, both leaning on the other a little bit for support. The sun was just starting to set. The two watched the sunset cast its scarlet light over the trees and water, unaware of the beautiful friendship that would sprout between them from the seed that was their first battle.


	14. Chapter 11

**My mind has completely gone blank in terms of what to say for this filler, so I'll just skip to the part were I say... Once again: I do not own Pokemon, this story is here purely for entertainment purposes, and it is not meant to infringe on any copyrights.**

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Thunder woke up with a yawn. He stretched and got up, noticing that Flare wasn't there. 'I wonder where she is,' he thought. He noticed that the card was still on the nest, so he picked it up and left the room. He navigated to the lobby and saw the Hoothoot from last night still sitting at his desk.

"Hello, Mr…" The Hoothoot turned to him.

"Just calling me Hoot is fine," he said. Thunder nodded.

"Okay then," he said. "Well, first I want to give this back," he began, handing him the card. Hoot took it and replaced it in the drawer behind him. "And also, have you seen Flare? The Flareon I was with before?" Hoot looked up at the ceiling, thinking, before he shook his head.

"Sorry, but no, I didn't see her leave," he answered. Thunder nodded.

"Well, thanks anyway," he said before walking out the automatic doors, not sure of where to start. 'Oh! Maybe she's at that Jirachi statue!' he thought. He dashed off towards the main square where the statue was located. The many pokemon out on the streets paid him little attention as he ran along. He eventually made it to the middle of town. He scanned the square, seeing the statue of course, some other pokemon milling about, but no sign of Flare. As a Breloom was walking past him, Thunder decided to ask if he had seen her.

"Excuse me?" he asked. The Breloom turned.

"Hmm? What can I do for you?"

"I was wondering if you've seen a Flareon? She's my friend, and I can't seem to find her." The Breloom shook his head.

"Sorry to disappoint, but no," he said. He walked away. 'It was worth a shot,' Thunder thought. He decided to try asking a couple Lampent, the pokemon nearest to him, next.

"Hey, you two! Could I ask you something?" he asked. The two Lampent looked at each other and nodded. "Have you seen a Flareon? She's a friend of mine, and she disappeared."

"No no, I don't think so," the first Lampent answered. She was about to leave when the other one piped up.

"Yes yes, I do think we have!" she exclaimed. The first Lampent turned to her.

"No no… I don't remember anything about a Flareon," she argued. The second Lampent shook her head.

"It was it was last night, remember?" she asked. "We saw that Flareon in this very square!" The first Lampent blinked and nodded slowly.

"Yes yes, I remember now!" she exclaimed. Thunder coughed.

"So umm… Not to be rude, but do you know where she went?" he asked. The two Lampent looked at him.

"Yes yes!" they both answered in unison. "That way, that way." They turned, looking down the opposite path. Thunder smiled.

"Thank you!" he said before dashing off, heading along the path they had pointed out.

"You're welcome, you're welcome!" They called out after him. Thunder soon noticed that this path led towards The Crossing, which was the name of the gate that separated the town's two sectors. Thunder decided that Flare had probably gone to the human side, so he ran the rest of the distance without stopping. At the gate were two humans talking to each other. One of them noticed Thunder.

"Hello, Jolteon," the human said. He was wearing a blue uniform.

"Hello, but my name is Thunder," he responded, though he knew the human couldn't possibly understand him. To his surprise, he did.

"Okay then, Thunder," he said, smiling. Thunder blinked and tilted his head. "Us guards are required to understand pokespeech, as a part of our jobs." Thunder nodded and decided to ask this human about Flare.

"Has a Flareon come through here recently?" he asked, the words coming out as 'Jol- Jolteon?' The man looked up, thinking.

"Actually, yes, one came through here last night," he told him. "Said her name was Flare." Thunder's heart began to beat faster.

"Thank you!" he exclaimed, before running into the human side. There was a map near him, but he didn't bother to look at it. He ran through the streets, winding between humans, careful not to bump into them.

'I wonder what Flare's doing in this part of town?' he asked himself. He continued to run, wandering aimlessly around the town, looking for any sign of Flare. Soon he stopped to catch his breath, outside of a pokemart. As he was standing there though, a child suddenly burst out of the mart, holding a huge bag of newly bought pokeballs, and took noticed of Thunder.

"Ooh a Jolteon! That's going to be my first pokemon!" he exclaimed happily. Thunder's eyes widened. The human took a pokeball and enlarged it, ready to chuck it at him. Thunder quickly tried to run away, but slipped and fell painfully. The child threw the pokeball at him, but it bounced off with no effect.

_"Pokeballs cannot be used in this area," _a robotic voice said. Thunder got up, thinking that the pokeball had said it.

"Oh, that's right," the human said, disappointed. "You can't catch pokemon in this city. Sorry, Jolteon!" Thunder shrugged and ran off. He continued to look around for Flare, but to no avail. There was no sign of her anywhere. Eventually he found himself nearing the middle of town. When he caught sight of a large bronze statue, he remembered their conversation from yesterday.

_ "Huh. Put it that way, and it's a whole lot more interesting," _

_"This area is really big. I think it could be the main square of this part of town… So that means… Maybe if we go to the human side, there'll be another statue there_?"

"She must've come here!" he exclaimed excitedly. He quickly calmed down though. 'But where is she now? I don't see her around…' Only humans and their pokemon were walking around, with no sign of the familiar Flareon.

There was an Emolga flying around a human child sitting on a bench, so Thunder decided to try asking her. He walked over.

"Excuse me? Miss?" he asked. The Emolga jumped in shock and turned.

"Eep!" she exclaimed, calming down when she saw Thunder. "You scared me," she said with a sigh. Thunder smiled sheepishly.

"Sorry about that," he apologized. "Have you seen a Flareon?" The Emolga shook her head.

"No, I don't think so," she said.

"Oh well… Thanks anyway," he said in disappointment. "Sorry to bother you." He began to walk away, when the Emolga called out to him.

"Oh wait! Is the Flareon you're looking for red?" she asked. Thunder turned in confusion.

"Well of course… All Flareons are red," he said. The Emolga smiled and giggled.

"I know, I was just joking," she said. Then her face grew serious. "I just remembered though. Last night, while I was working, I saw a couple of suspicious looking humans pass by," she began. "I'm naturally the curious type, and so I decided to follow them. There was a tarp draped over whatever they were carrying. They went into an alleyway and opened a door. This was my last chance to find out, so I used gust to blow away the tarp, just as the door was closing. Right before the door closed, I caught sight of red ears and yellowish fur."

Thunder's eyes widened. "Was it a Flareon?" he asked urgently.

"Now that I think about it, I do believe it was," she said. Thunder silently cursed. Flare had been kidnapped.

"Can you take me to that alleyway?" he asked. The Emolga looked back at the two humans she was with. She was silent for a while. Thunder felt a sweat drop run down his back. This could be the difference between finding Flare and never seeing her again.

"Yes," she finally decided. Thunder hid a sigh of relief. The Emolga turned and said something to the older human, who nodded. "Follow me," she said. She took off, and Thunder followed. She led him around the town, cutting corners and running streets, eventually leading him to an alley.

"It was in here, at the end," she said. "This is as far as I'll go. Good luck," she said. Thunder nodded a thanks as she flew away. He walked through the alley, to the end of it. A barely visible metal door was there, as well as some kind of panel next to it. He investigated around the door, and found a cleverly placed flap near the bottom of it, designed to blend in with the metal and wall.

He tentatively pushed through as a strong shock of electricity ran through him. When he was through, he looked back at the flap. 'If I weren't an electric type, I could be dead right now…' he thought grimly. He shook his head and began his search for Flare.

"…What… Happened…" Flare groaned, coming to. Her vision was a bit blurry. She shook her head and blinked a few times to clear it. She was in an unfamiliar room with strange machinery and a singular, bright light above her. She was on a metal table of some sort.

Flare tried to get up, but something stopped her. She looked down and saw metallic cuffs holding her down in place. "What!?" she exclaimed, confused.

"You're awake…" a voice said. Flare looked around the best she could, but didn't see anyone. "I'm right here," the voice said again. A Jolteon jumped up onto the table, staring at her. At first, Flare thought it was Thunder before realizing that it was a different Jolteon.

"W-Who are you?" she asked. The Jolteon blinked.

"You're not in a position to be asking that question," he said. He released a bolt of electricity which hit Flare. It wasn't strong enough to make her cry out in pain, but she flinched from the shock.

"Where am I?" Flare asked.

"You'll find out soon enough," the Jolteon replied. Flare began to hear footsteps. "And by soon enough, I mean right now." A door in the back of the room opened, and a human walked out. He was wearing a large white coat, and was writing something down on a clipboard. He wore glasses and had average length black hair. He walked over to Flare, paying no attention to her as he scribbled away on paper.

He was murmuring something to himself, too quiet for Flare to hear. He put down his writing materials and picked up… a needle. That was the only way Flare could describe it. It was essentially a thick, sharp looking needle on a slab of metal, which had an electronic screen with numbers on it.

He turned to Flare, holding the tool. Her eyes widened.

"W-What're you doing-" her own question was answered as he stabbed her in the side with the tool. She could feel the needle sinking deep into her flesh, causing her to scream. The cold metal slid deeper and deeper. Soon, though not soon enough for Flare, it was pulled out. She was breathing heavily, pain throbbing in her side.

The tool the human was holding beeped. He picked up his clipboard again and scribbled something down. He then put the material down and took another needle, though this time, it really was a needle. He turned to Flare, whose legs were shaking, and her eyes were filled with fear.

Without warning, he jammed the needle into her shoulder, pushing down on the syringe. She screamed again, starting to feel dizzy and light headed. The needle was removed, and the human left the room. Flare's vision began fading, the world becoming darker and more distant.

"This was only a test," the Jolteon said. "You're in for much, much worse." Flare groaned and passed out again.

Thunder crept through the hallways, hiding from humans as he went. He looked through the window of every door he passed, but still hadn't found Flare yet. He dodged around a corner to avoid another human and continued his search.

'This place is giving me the creeps…' Thunder thought to himself. The halls were all brightly lit, but something just felt… off about the entire place. He shivered. 'Hurry up and find Flare. Then you can get out of here,' he told himself.

Thunder descended a flight of stairs. He continued to look for Flare, using the same system of looking through each and every window. It was tedious and time consuming, but he didn't have anything else to try.

After a while of this, Thunder noticed that there were much less human activity on this floor. He hadn't even seen a single one of them yet. 'How odd…' he thought. He shook his head. 'It doesn't matter. That's not important. If I don't hurry, Flare could be in danger.'

The thought made him speed up, carelessly shooting a glance into each window instead of thoroughly searching the room through it. He almost didn't catch the yellow fur and red skin of a Flareon in one of the rooms. Almost. He quickly went back to the window to take a better look. Sure enough, Flare was in the room, on a table, unconscious.

Without thinking, Thunder rammed the door, shrouded in electricity. It took a couple of tries before the door collapsed inward on itself. He immediately jumped up onto the table and gasped when he saw blood oozing out of a deep wound on her side.

Metal cuffs were around her legs, pinning her down. "…Oh Hello…" Thunder whipped around to see another Jolteon standing right behind him, smiling. He narrowed his eyes, getting into a defensive stance.


	15. Chapter 12

**(SorryFeralIDon'tKnowAnythingAboutMetalGearSolidSoIDon'tGetTheJoke) So, onto Chapter 12. Well, 14 if you count bonus chapters. I don't. Anyway, did you guys know that I hit 700 views? Jeez, we're getting 100 views a day. It's nice to see that this is enjoyable. Anyway, I'm thinking about starting another story soon, probably after 1,000 views or some other monumental milestone. I don't know. As for this story, thanks so much for the attention its been getting! Once again: I do not own Pokemon, this story is here purely for entertainment purposes, and it is not meant to infringe on any copyrights. Also, keep track of the story with the follow button in the upper right, and give it some reviews as well! Enjoy!**

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"Who are you?" he asked.

"I don't need a name," the Jolteon replied. He immediately ran in and hit Thunder hard in the side with quick attack, knocking him off the table. Thunder executed a roll to recover from the hit. He then tried to use double team. His opponent simply discharged a flare of electricity, eliminating Thunder's copies, and hitting him to boot.

The Jolteon followed up with a double team of his own, his much quicker and creating more copies than Thunder's. They all began to burrow into the ground. Thunder watched the area carefully. A super effective attack would not be good for him right now.

Bulges appeared in the floor. All of the Jolteon's copies were springing out of the ground. Thunder could do nothing but dodge them all, and use guesswork to try and find his opponent. The Jolteon soon revealed himself by slamming into Thunder's side with a powerful dig attack, sending him flying into the wall. He groaned before getting up, badly injured, whereas his opponent still didn't have a single scratch on him.

Thunder didn't even have time to react as a barrage of shadowy orbs flew at him. The shadow ball attacked pummeled him mercilessly, knocking him down again. He lay on the ground and endured the hits. When they vanished, Thunder began to struggle up to his paws. As he was getting up though, a huge, powerful white beam of light shot him, blowing him straight into the far wall.

Thunder was barely conscious at this point. All he felt was pain, but he gritted his teeth and got up anyway. He stood on wobbly legs, not sure how he hadn't blacked out yet.

"You can't beat me," he said with a blank look on his face. Thunder was breathing heavily, but he stayed up and faced him.

"I will beat you," Thunder replied. "I have to. Not for me. For Flare." He gathered up the small remainder of his strength, waiting for the Jolteon to attack.

"I hate heroes," his opponent said simply. "I was willing to allow you to surrender there… But it looks like you want me to hurt you some more." He used double team. All his copies began to dig into the ground again. Thunder hesitate. Another hit from an attack like that, and he was done.

Quickly formulating a plan, Thunder managed a double team of his own. He streaked around the room so quickly that he was almost invisible, his copies doing the same. His opponent's illusions began to spring out of the ground. Whenever two of the copies hit each other, they disappeared. Thunder kept tabs on each individual copy, searching for his opponent. Nothing happened for a while. Thunder decided he would have to lure the Jolteon out.

As Thunder was running past one of his own copies, he released a blast of electricity, making it look like his copy was the one who did it. Just a few seconds later, his opponent sprung out of the ground, barreling into what he thought was Thunder.

Thunder quickly turned around and charged him, cloaked in electricity. The force of the attack pushed the Jolteon back a ways. Thunder jumped back, breathing heavily.

His opponent turned to face Thunder, his mouth in a tight line, and his eyes full of rage. "I'm just going to kill you now," he spat, shrouding himself in electricity. He ran at Thunder, using an unnaturally powerful wild charge. Thunder hesitated for a moment. His wild charge attack wouldn't be as powerful. If the two collided, Thunder would surely lose.

Thunder shook his head and summoned the last drops of strength inside of him. 'I have to do this. For Flare,' he thought. Even though he knew he would lose, he ran at his opponent. Other than an ear twitch, there was no sign of surprise.

Thunder closed his eyes, bracing for impact. The two rammed each other head on, and Thunder opened his eyes, surprised that it was a stalemate. His heartbeat quickened when he saw that it was not electricity surrounding him, but pure, bright, white and yellow light. He was using giga impact. Thunder threw one more burst of power into his attack, which was too much for his opponent.

The other Jolteon's attack faded. Thunder slammed into him, ramming him into and straight through the wall, sending dust and rubble flying everywhere. When it cleared, Thunder saw the Jolteon lying on the ground, unconscious. Thunder forced out a smile, before collapsing and fainting himself.

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**Short chapter... Sorry about that! Hopefully the epic-ness as well as Thunder being bad-ass make up for that. The next chapter will be longer, I promise.**


	16. Chapter 13

**Longer chapter today! Not much to say except for that though... So, once again: I do not own Pokemon, this story is here purely for entertainment purposes, and it is not meant to infringe on any copyrights. Also, keep track of the story with the follow button in the upper right, and give it some reviews as well! Enjoy!**

* * *

Thunder returned to reality with a start. He sat up, groaning. He looked around the room, not knowing where he was for a second, before he saw the Jolteon knocked out next to him amid a pile of rubble. The memory of his fight and Flare's capture came back, and he shot up, wincing from the pain. He looked over at where Flare was and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that she was still there.

He jumped up to the still unconscious Flare. He looked around for something to free her with. Finding nothing, he growled in frustration and jumped back down to the ground and quickly searched the room. He noticed a small panel with a few lights on the side of the metal table, something he had overlooked before. Out of curiosity, he used thunderbolt on it, frying the panel with a high-voltage bolt of electricity.

Thunder heard a 'click' sound, and looked up. The metal cuffs previously holding Flare down had clicked open, causing her to slump onto the metal surface. He jumped up to her and decided to wait until she woke up.

Flare woke up to see a Jolteon looking down at her. "G-Get away from me!" she exclaimed, scrambling away. She shrunk from the Jolteon, shaking in fear. "W-Wait… I can move?" she looked down to see that the cuffs were no longer restraining her. Flare looked back at the Jolteon, who seemed confused.

"T-Thunder?!" she asked. "Thunder!" she scrambled over to him and buried her face in his chest fur, tears forming in her eyes. "You came to save me?" Flare asked. Thunder smiled.

"Of course," he replied quietly.

"T-Thank you," Flare said, with tears in her eyes. She looked up and stared into Thunder's eyes. Thunder met her gaze.

Thunder's heart skipped a beat. Why, he didn't know. "What kind of friend would I be if I left you to these sick people?" he asked with a smile. "I care about you Flare," he added in a quieter voice. There was silence as the two stood close to each other, fur touching, for a while.

"Come on," Thunder said. "Let's get out of here." Flare nodded. The two jumped off the table. Flare took a sharp breath, pain shooting through her side. Thunder looked back at her.

"Are you okay?"

"I'll live," Flare replied. Thunder nodded and turned around again. The Jolteon and Flareon began to walk through the doorway, when Thunder heard rubble shifting behind him. He turned and saw the Jolteon getting up again. He jumped in front of Flare, getting into a defensive stance.

"…You haven't won…" he rasped, unsteady on his legs. "…This… isn't close to over…" The Jolteon finished, falling onto the floor. He had passed out again. Thunder narrowed his eyes.

"What does he mean by that?" Flare asked. Thunder shook his head.

"I don't know. But it doesn't sound good," he replied. "For now, let's just find a way out of here." Flare nodded.

Thunder and Flare walked slowly through the hallways. There weren't any humans to hide from, which made Thunder nervous for some reason. The two silently steered through the maze of halls, searching for the way out. Soon, Flare heard rapid footsteps.

"Over there!" Flare heard someone shout. She and Thunder turned around and saw a large group of humans, staring at them.

"Time to run," Thunder whispered urgently. They took off as fast as they could, cutting corners and picking their path at random. They ran until they were breathing hard, and stopped for a rest inside of a small room.

Thunder panted, trying to recover his breath, and Flare did the same. Thunder listened carefully for footsteps. He didn't hear any. He slumped against the wall and let out an exhausted sigh. Then he heard a cough.

"Was that you Flare?" he asked, looking over at her.

"N-No… I thought it was you," she said, confused.

"It was me." A voice replied. Thunder turned and saw a black pokemon sitting there, staring at them.

"Who are you?" Thunder asked, narrowing his eyes. Yellow rings lit up, as if in reply. "…An Umbreon?" he asked.

"Yes," the Umbreon said. "My name is Shadow." Thunder got up, his legs wobbling. He got into a defensive stance, expecting a fight. Shadow just blinked.

"I'm not here to fight you," he said. Thunder stayed in his stance.

"Then what are you here for?" he asked.

"To help you." Shadow replied. Thunder didn't move.

"And how do I know you're not going to try and kill me, like that Jolteon from before?" he asked. Shadow just shrugged.

"You don't. But you can take the chance," he said. Thunder thought for a moment before sighing and sitting down again. Shadow nodded.

"Good." He said simply. Thunder looked at him.

"I'm only trusting you because I have no other choice," he said. "And fighting would not be a smart thing for me right now." Shadow sighed.

"Good enough," he decided. "You'll begin to trust me more as time goes, I think." A short silence followed.

"What… is this place?" Flare asked.

"These humans… are performing experimenting using Eeveelutions," he answered. "They're looking to create some sort of pokemon that can utilize the power of each Eeveelution," he explained. "As well as trying to artificially create a mega-evolution for each one. As for what that Jolteon said, he's one of the human's 'helpers.' There's 6 others."

Thunder stepped back a bit. "And how would you know that?" he asked, suspicious of him. The Umbreon sighed.

"I'm not part of the '6 others'," he replied. "I heard rumors about this operation a few years ago. So I decided to look into it. I infiltrated this facility and killed the Umbreon that was already here. I've been pretending to be him since." Thunder just stared at him, astonished. Silence followed.

"We're going," Shadow said suddenly, breaking the silence, as he stood up.

"How do we know you're not lying?" he asked. Shadow thought for a moment before replying.

"You don't," he replied simply. Thunder and Flare looked at each other. Then Thunder sighed.

"Okay. We'll go," he said. Shadow just nodded.

"Come on then. I'll show you the way out." Shadow walked out of the room. Thunder and Flare followed. They followed him through the maze of hallways, efficiently avoiding humans. He led them to a door, one different from the one Thunder had used to enter. He quickly destroyed it with a shadow ball attack and led the two out of the building.

The three pokemon stepped out into the open again, under the cover of night. They were just outside the city.

"Now what?" Thunder asked. Shadow tilted his head.

"It depends," he replied. "Either we can go our separate ways, or you can help me. Help me to stop these humans." Thunder hesitated.

"I don't know…" he admitted. Flare's gaze snapped to Shadow.

"Yes." She replied without hesitation. "Of course. It was terrible in there, and I was only there for a few hours. I'm not going to let those humans continue with this, as long as there's something I can do about it." Thunder looked at her.

"You're right," he decided. "We'll help," he said to Shadow. "And we've got some friends who can as well." Shadow blinked.

"Good," he said. "And where are these friends?"

"Back at home," Flare replied. "It's a long walk. We'll lead you there." Shadow nodded. The three pokemon set off, heading back towards the forest. It took a while just to reach One Way Plains, the field that separated their home from Twin Towns.

It started to rain. The three trudged along in silence. Thunder thought about what Shadow had told him. '6 more of these pokemon… Just one of them was tough enough.' Lightning cracked overhead, snapping him out of his thoughts. The black darkness of night combined with the downpour of rain made the walking more dangerous.

"We need to rest for tonight," Thunder said, breaking the silence. "It's too dark to see anything. And combined with this rain, we might as well be blind." Nocturne just shrugged. They curled up on the ground, since it was too late to find anywhere else.

Thunder couldn't sleep. He stayed awake as the rain began to lessen, then disappear completely. Just as he was about to drift off, he heard something shift next to him. He opened his eyes to see Flare inching towards him.

"Hey Thunder?" Flare asked quietly. "Are you awake?"

"Yeah," he replied, staring up at the sky.

"I just wanted to say… thank you," she said. She rested her head on his chest. Thunder looked down at her.

"You don't have to thank me," he said. Flare felt tears coming to her eyes. She sniffed and shook her head.

"I-I could've gotten you caught too," she said. "You could've been stuck there. Because of me." She felt tears streaming down her face, soaking her already wet fur.

"I'm willing to take that risk for you," he replied. "I'm willing to take any risk for you." He looked back up at the sky. "We've been friends for so long…" he reminisced. "This friendship is the most important thing to me. I'd do anything to make sure we're able to stay together. Because to me, you're someone I can't live without." Flare looked up at him, blushing a little.

"I feel the same way," she replied quietly. "This friendship is the one thing that I can really be happy about. The day we met… I told you my story. I didn't have friends then. So I'm determined to keep this one going as long as possible. Although…" she trailed off. Thunder's gaze went back to her.

"Although… what?" he asked. Flare shook her head.

"It's nothing," she mumbled. 'Although… What if… we… we were more than friends?' she thought to herself. Silence ensued.

"Flare?" Thunder asked, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"Yeah?"

"Remember a few days ago, when you asked me what I would wish for if I met Jirachi?" he asked. Flare nodded. "Well, I think I finally know what I really want." Flare rolled her eyes.

"A lifetime supply of food? A 1,000 year nap of your own? A-" Thunder hushed her by resting a paw on her mouth.

"None of those things," he said. "What I really want… What my heart really wants… Is you." Flare's eyes widened as her blush deepened, now visible through her already red skin.

"W-What do you mean?" she asked, her heart beating faster. Thunder took a deep breath.

"My wish is to help you whenever you need helping," he answered. "My wish is to do whatever it takes to make you happy. My wish… is to love you." Flare felt a few tears coming to her eyes, not of sadness but of joy. When she stayed silent, Thunder hung his head, looking at the ground. "I thought so… You'd rather just be friends…"

Flare pulled him in close to her, and felt him stiffen. "Although… I sometimes ask myself… What if we were more than friends?" she whispered into his ear. Thunder relaxed. "Thunder… You thought wrong. What my heart desires more than anything… Is your wish to come true. Because… It's my wish too." Thunder looked into her eyes and smiled.

"Then I'll make it come true, Jirachi or no Jirachi," he murmured before closing his eyes and leaning in, meeting her in a kiss. Flare closed her eyes and leaned into the kiss, deepening it. The two kissed for what felt like forever, bathed in the dark light of the moon, the only sounds that of wind whistling through grass.

When they finally separated, Flare's eyes were still wide as a Bronzong, and they were filled with starshine. "Did… that just happen?" she breathed. Thunder smiled and answered in the best way he could. With another kiss.

Before she knew it, Thunder's lips were on hers, pressing into them softly. She closed her eyes and returned their second kiss.

"Does that answer your question?" Thunder asked with a smile when he drew away. Flare smiled and nodded. A silence followed. Not an awkward one, though. A silence, where in two lovers stared into each other's eyes.

"I never would've imagined… us," Flare said quietly. "If you know what I mean." Thunder smiled and nodded.

"Right?" he agreed. The two looked at each other, grinning.

"Not in a million years," they said in unison. They laughed and Flare yawned.

"You're tired?" Thunder asked. Flare nodded sleepily. "Good, cause I am too." He yawned as well, proving his point. "Let's get some sleep." Flare fell asleep instantly, falling over, her head landing on Thunder's chest. Thunder's cheeks tinted pink. He went with it and closed his eyes, drifting off into sleep.

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**HUEHUEHUE Flare x Thunder just happened. Were you expecting that? To be honest, it was probably pretty obvious that it was going to happen. Oh well.**


	17. Chapter 14

**Hey, let's play a game! It's called DidIOrDidINotReWriteThisChapter? Great name, I know. I must be related to Clemont or something. Anyway, the name sort of explains the entire premise. In your review, if you post one, say whether or not you think I re-wrote this chapter. (I honestly think it'll be fairly obvious, since my re-written chapters are both longer and more detailed.) Also, Feral, the whole thing with Red and his Eevee/Espeon was kind of what last chapter was based off of XD. Anyway, before we get to the story, once again: I do not own Pokemon, this story is here purely for entertainment purposes, and it is not meant to infringe on any copyrights. Also, keep track of the story with the follow button in the upper right, and give it some reviews as well! Enjoy!**

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Thunder woke up to bright sunlight streaming into his eyes. He blinked a few times then yawned. He felt something next to him move. He looked down to see Flare, still sleeping. The sunlight danced around on her fur, making it seem like it was glowing. He smiled and listened to her gentle breathing as he waited for her to wake up.

Flare woke with a yawn, keeping her eyes closed. She turned over and stretched, snuggling up against the warmth next to her, wanting to sleep some more. As she was stretching though, she hit something soft with her leg. She opened her eyes and turned to see Thunder staring at her with a look of humor on his face.

"Hey Flare," he said quietly.

"O-Oh T-Thunder!" she said quickly, blushing. "G-Good morning." Thunder smiled.

"Good morning," he said. Flare looked into his eyes.

"Where's Shadow?" she asked. Thunder looked around. The Umbreon was nowhere in sight.

"I don't know," he answered. "I wonder where he is." As if on cue, Flare caught sight of the black pokemon walking towards them. Shadow had a leaf wrap in his jaws. He dropped it on the ground and berries came rolling out.

"Help yourself," the Umbreon offered, rolling a sitrus berry towards himself. Thunder nodded a thanks and took some cheri berries for himself. Flare looked over the berries for a moment before deciding on a pecha berry.

After finishing their morning meal, the three set off again. Thunder and Flare were walking closer to each other now, and their fur would brush together sometimes. Flare would smile a little every time that happened. Shadow shot glances behind him constantly, as if he was expecting an attack. Thunder was smiling stupidly the entire time, feeling happy.

"So Flare…" Thunder said, looking next to him.

"Yeah?" she asked, meeting his gaze.

"It's been a few days…" Thunder began smiling. Flare smiled and nodded. They jumped away from each other and started to circle around. Shadow stopped and blinked.

"Wait… Aren't you two friends?" he asked, confused.

Flare looked over at him. "Well, stuff happened last night, and we're not exactly 'just friends' anymore," she said with a smile. Shadow blinked and nodded in understanding. "As for battling, we just love to battle each other." As she was speaking, Thunder shot a strong blast of electricity at her. Not strong enough to deliver serious pain, but enough to annoy her with. This was how all their mock battles worked.

"Not fair!" Flare exclaimed after recovering from the hit.

"Hey, you did it to me when I was talking to Hail," Thunder smiled. Flare shot fire out of her mouth, aiming at him.

"Fair point," she said. Thunder jumped out of the way of Flare's attack, but she was ready for that. A second pillar of fire had already come shooting out of her mouth, which hit him in the side as he was dodging the first.

Thunder rolled and sprang back up to all fours. He used double team, then ran around with quick attack, trying to confuse Flare. Flare hesitated. She couldn't use that trick with overheat again, since Thunder would be expecting it.

Flare had an idea. Extremely hot flames surrounded her body, and she charged around wildly, using Flare blitz. The move not only got rid of some of Thunder's copies, but it lit the grass on fire too. The flames spread, wiping out all of Thunder's copies. Flare charged at him using flare blitz and hit him in the side, sending him flying.

Thunder shook his head to clear it. While he was in the air, he shot a Thunderbolt at her, hitting her in the side. When he landed, he turned to face Flare again. A few dark purple orbs formed in front of Flare's mouth. She shot them at Thunder, who easily stepped out of the way.

"You need to do better than tha-"he began, before purple fire exploded all around him. It hit him from all sides and he fell over, too exhausted to get back up. "You win Flare," he said. Flare smiled and ran over to Thunder.

"How did you…?" Thunder asked. Flare just smiled again.

"Overheat," she said simply. Thunder just blinked.

"Wow Flare… that was amazing," he said, smiling. "You're amazing. I told you that you were just as good as me. You're probably even better." Flare blushed.

"Jeez Thunder, I didn't know you could use attract," she said, staring into his eyes. Her heart was beating faster. Thunder smiled and laughed.

"I'm serio-" he began. Flare couldn't stop herself any longer. She leaned in to kiss him, closing her eyes.

Thunder felt a jolt of surprise run through him when Flare kissed him. He closed his eyes too and leaned into it. When the kiss was over, Flare was still blushing and she was breathing faster.

"Huh. Maybe I can use attract," he joked. Flare smiled. They were leaning in for another kiss when they heard Shadow cough. They instantly drew away from each other, cheeks turning red with embarrassment.

"You two are pretty good," Shadow complimented. Thunder just shrugged.

"Rematch, three days, same as always?" Thunder asked.

"No," Flare said. Thunder blinked, confused and hurt. "One very important thing has changed. We used to battle as friends. And now…" she trailed off, thinking Thunder would get the hint. He did. He nodded slowly and smiled, making the connection.

Shadow looked at Thunder then at Flare, then back at Thunder. 'I don't see how Thunder won…' he thought. 'It doesn't seem like a matchup between him and… any of 'them' would end well…'

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**Short chapter? Yeah, sorry about that.**


	18. Chapter 15

**Yep, Feral, last chapter was not re-written. As for an Eevee character... We'll just have to wait and see about that one. Anyway, this is Chapter 15, 17 if you count the bonus chapters, which I don't. I feel like I'm starting to get really lazy with re-writing, and with the story in general. Hopefully that mood will change when I begin on the arc I have planned after this one is over. I've already foreshadowed it a bit in both this chapter and a few chapters earlier, so see if you can catch that. Once again: I do not own Pokemon, this story is here purely for entertainment purposes, and it is not meant to infringe on any copyrights. Also, keep track of the story with the follow button in the upper right, and give it some reviews as well! Enjoy!**

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As soon as Thunder caught sight of trees in the distance, he broke out into a run, quickly outpacing the other two. Flare looked back at Shadow before giving chase, running through the tall grass. She soon caught up to Thunder, who she suspected was going slower on purpose.

Flare stole a glance behind her to see Shadow keeping pace with them. She focused back on what was in front of her. The sky was a deep blue and cloudless, and the sun was in full view, but it seemed a bit dim, and the air still felt chilly. The long, green stalks of grass she was mowing over during her run were coated in frost, some of it clinging and melting on Flare's fur.

Thunder breathed in deep breaths of the cold, clean, and crisp air. Winter was his favorite season, only because the air was so fresh and full, making it easier to breath. He much preferred it to the hot, humid days, and hotter, stuffy air of summer. As for the cold, he wasn't as big of a fan of it. The small chunks of ice clung to his legs as they swished through the field grass, making him shiver a bit.

The sun rose higher and higher in the sky, having no effect on either temperature or weather. Even at the trio's breakneck pace, it took a few hours to reach the forest. By the time they were there, Thunder's paws were coated in frost, and his teeth chattered, while Flare's high body temperature had simply melted all the ice around her.

"Well… we're here," Thunder said, taking another huge gulp of winter air. Flare nodded. She and Thunder took the liberty of a first step in, while Shadow stayed behind, not knowing what to expect out of the place. While Thunder and Flare busied themselves with figuring out where they were, Shadow took in the sight of the canopy of trees.

It was a perfectly sized forest – not too big, not too small. The trees were packed tightly enough together to give enough cover, but not so tight that it was impossible to navigate. The leaves being tussled around by winter winds created a soothing sound and mesmerizing sight. Shadow felt calmer just watching the display. He looked beyond the trees, making out mountains in the distance. The peak, covered in snow, of the largest mountain jutted so high that it dwarfed the forest, Twin Towns, and even rivaled the sky. Some of the slope was covered in lush, green growth, while rocks and pebbles covered the rest. It looked tricky, but not dangerous to climb.

Shadow couldn't see anything beyond the mountain range – for it blocked his sight. He nodded and took a step into the forest, noting the change between tough, prickly, grassy plain to the softer, smoother terrain in this forest. He shook his head, not believing that such a perfect place existed.

"What else?" he asked himself. "Is there a lake in here too?" He stopped as he realized that there had to be – How else would the pokemon living here get their liquids? He shook his head again. 'Arceus must have spent hours on this thing…' he thought.

'_Actually, it was Celebi,"_ A voice resounded in his head. Shadow stopped. He listened for the voice again, but it never came. He shook his head, thinking that it was just his imagination, and continued on his way towards Thunder and Flare.

"So what now?" Shadow asked the pair.

"We find our friends. But first, you tell us your plan," Thunder said. Shadow nodded.

"Well… there's been a change," he replied, with an ear twitch. "The plan was originally to launch a full-on attack on their headquarters, but…" he trailed off. Thunder blinked.

"But what?" Flare asked.

"It looks like they're coming to us," he finished. "As in, those Eeveelutions will come first, and the humans aren't too far behind them." Thunder sucked in a breath.

"And… there were 6 more of them?" he asked. Shadow nodded.

"Although… I'm a bit suspicious of that Jolteon you fought. Tell me, what was he like?" he asked.

"Well, normally you don't pay attention to things like that in a fight to the death," Thunder answered. "But… he was a bit… blank. He had this blank expression the entire time, he never really showed much emotion other than anger, just sort of empty-ish." Shadow blinked.

"And you beat him, correct?" he asked.

"Barely," Thunder answered. "I probably would have lost if I didn't have Flare to think about." Flare's cheeks flushed red at that.

"Then you might not like what I'm about to tell you," Shadow said. Thunder blinked and nodded for him to continue. "The Jolteon you fought… was not part of The Eight."

Thunder's eyes widened. "I though you said there were only six," he said.

"The entire group is comprised of eight," Shadow replied. "However, I counted me out. That makes seven. And then, I assumed that you had already beaten the Jolteon, which makes six. Now I know you didn't, so we're back to seven."

"How strong… are these seven?" Flare asked, since Thunder seemed too shocked to respond.

"As strong as me. I was one of them, in case you didn't notice," Shadow replied.

"And how strong are you?" Flare asked. Shadow thought about how to show her. He turned and focused on a nearby tree. A psychic wave rippled through the air, and the tree imploded on itself, disappearing instantly. The attack sent a large booming sound echoing throughout the forest.

"What," Flare breathed, her eyes wide.

"That was only a fraction of my power," Shadow said. "And that Jolteon you fought only has a fraction of that fraction."

"So that's it then?" Flare asked. "There's no way any of us can compete with…" she looked over at the smoking space where the tree once was. "…That," she finished. "They'll win, and we'll lose." Shadow shook his head.

"No. The difference is that I'm here," he replied. "With me, and a lot of luck, I think you can avoid dying or worse." Flare and Thunder looked at each other, before their gazes snapped back to Shadow. "Well?" the Umbreon asked. "Are you going to take me to your friends or…?" Thunder nodded absentmindedly.

"Right… Well let's go find them," he answered. As if on cue, Dusk and Dawn appeared from the side, crashing through a few bushes.

"Thunder! Flare!" they called out. "Everybody's been worried sick about you two! We searched the entire forest, but you were nowhere to be found!" Thunder and Flare smiled sheepishly while the Umbreon and Espeon duo noticed Shadow.

"Who's this?" Dawn asked.

"Shadow," Thunder answered. Dusk blinked.

"You've got to be more specific, Thunder," he said. Flare chuckled.

"Okay… Well… It's a long story." He began to recount the events of the past few days, explaining why he and Flare had took without any warning, how Flare had been kidnapped, Thunder's suicide rescue mission, how they had met Shadow, and the rest of the days leading up to this point. Every time he would mention something to do with Flare, both he and she would blush a little. He ended up leaving out his kiss with Flare.

"Long story… No kidding," Dusk said after he was done. He looked up at the sky. "You managed to burn a couple hours." Thunder blinked.

"Well that was…" Dawn began.

"…Interesting…" Dusk finished. Silence ensued. Shadow got fed up with the time they were wasting, even though it was only a few seconds. He coughed, directing attention towards him.

"If you didn't pay attention to Thunder, let me say it again – Either we stop wasting time or we die." The Umbreon said flatly.

"Well… Since you seem to be the leader type… What's your plan?" Dusk inquired.

"I'll tell you when everyone is present," Shadow replied, meeting his stare. The two Umbreon's gazes met for a long time. Thunder could practically see something sparking between them. Eventually Dusk looked away.

Thunder coughed to break the awkward silence. "Right… Dusk, Dawn, where is everyone anyway?" he asked.

"Well… Our parents left to go… somewhere. They didn't really specify," she began. "Thunder, your mother went with them..."

"…As for Stream, Hail, Petal, and Silk…" Dusk continued.

"…Stream is swimming as usual, Hail and Petal are in their den, while…" Dawn went on.

"…Silk is still out looking for you two," Dusk finished. Flare shook her head. How the two were able to talk like that, she didn't know.

"Right, then let's find them. The lake is closest, so we'll check there first," Thunder said. The rest agreed, and they set off for Stream's den together in silence.

Shadow began to take up the rear. He suddenly stopped walking as his ears twitched a few times.

'Shit. That Flareon…' he thought. 'How did he get here so quickly?' he looked towards the mountains, and hoping that he was wrong, checked the air once more, and sensed his presence. Without a doubt, he was there, ready to strike.

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**Ack I hate that ending. I feel like I could've done a better job on that one. Ah well.**


	19. Chapter 16

**Enjoy Chapter 16 while I finish writing the bonus chapter that will come out sometime today. Also, to clear up possible confusion between Dusk and Dawn, I'd like to remind everyone that they're siblings, not lovers. Also, Feral, by Fred and George do you possibly mean Fred and George Weasley? Anyway, onto the disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon, this story is here purely for entertainment purposes, and it is not meant to infringe on any copyrights. Also, keep track of the story and give it some reviews as well! Enjoy!**

* * *

Hail sat inside his den, next to Petal. "I wonder where Flare and Thunder are," Petal thought out loud. "We haven't seen them for a while… I hope they're all right." Hail nodded absentmindedly, distracted by... Well, Petal. He was staring at her.

The den's trunk, which used to be barren and smooth, was now completely renovated. An intricately designed pattern laced around the wooden walls, created by cuts in the wood and newly grown branches alike. Cleverly placed chunks of nevermelt ice decorated the walls, letting light in.

The ground, before a barren thing of dirt, was now covered in smooth, rich wood. A singular nest, made from branches and ice, was created for the two of them. Currently, Hail sat on it with Petal pressed up against his side, shivering from the cold of Winter air, the den, and Hail himself.

Sunlight, although weak, penetrated the trunk, scattering fractured light around. Most of it fell on Petal's cream colored fur, making it shine and sparkle beautifully. The leaves and sprouts growing in various places on her body seemed both greener and richer, and even seemed to shine a verdant color. Her darker chocolate colored paws rested on the ground, blending with the bark floor. Her eyes seemed bigger, deeper, and suddenly more golden as they shone in the sun. Hail simply stared at her, his eyes starting to glaze over as he lost focus with the world.

"H-Hail?" Petal asked with a cough, snapping him back to reality. She wore a light blush, obviously because of him staring at her. Hail's own cheeks turned a red color as he looked to the ground.

"S-Sorry," he apologized. He looked back up and flinched when he saw her face inches away from his, her eyes staring into his eyes. "Wha-" he began. He tried to continue speaking, but couldn't seeing as how Petal's mouth had suddenly pressed against his. Her eyes were closed, and she was blushing. Hail's own eyes widened for a second before they slowly closed and he leaned into the kiss, deepening it and making it more pleasurable for the both of them.

After Petal drew away, leaving Hail wanting more, she smiled. "You don't have to be sorry," she said. "I- I s-sometimes stare at you…" she added that last part with a blush. Hail's cheeks tinted pink as well, and he looked away, suddenly finding something interesting on the walls to look at.

Petal's heart skipped a beat. The angle at which Hail's head rested at caused a ray of sun to fall directly on the aquamarine tuque which rested on his head, which now shone a beautiful sapphire blue. His long, pointed ears, along with the rest of his fur, seemed soft, smooth, and bright. The two rhombus shaped feelers erupting from the sides of his head rested on his front paws, covering them with what seemed like a layer of ice. Hail's entire body seemed to be sparkling, shining, and even reflecting sunlight. It was like looking at a solid block of ice.

A loud explosion broke her daydreams. Petal's eyes widened fearfully at the sound.

"What was that?" She asked quietly.

"I don't know," Hail whispered. "But I'm going to go find out." He got up, starting towards the entrance. Petal rose to her paws to follow. "Petal, stay here," he ordered. Petal blinked.

"No," she answered. "I'm going to go with you. What if you get hurt?" she asked. Hail shook his head.

"What if you get hurt?" he asked. "Stay here, it could be dangerous." Petal shook her head stubbornly. Hail stayed silent for a second before suddenly rushing out of the trunk.

"Hey! Hail!" she exclaimed, thrown off by his sudden burst.

"Sorry Petal," he said. "But I'm not letting you come. I'd rather have myself get hurt than you." He quickly blocked the entrance of the trunk using ice beam, creating a barrier so thick that Petal couldn't even see through it.

"Hail!" she shouted. She unleashed a flurry of sharp leaves which shot at the ice, which did nothing. "Hail!" she screamed again, a few tears coming to her eyes. She began to feel more and more nervous, and she started to pace around the trunk floor.

'Hail… If anything happens to you… I'll never forgive myself…' she thought, tears in her eyes.

Hail rushed out of his den, looking around for whatever caused the explosion. He heard a cough behind him. He turned and looked up, seeing a Flareon lounging on his roof.

"Who are you?" Hail asked, his eyes narrowing. The Flareon smiled.

"Nobody you need to know," he answered. Fire engulfed him as he prepared himself for battle. Hail could feel the heat even though he was a good ways away. He got into a defensive stance, ready to fight.

Explosions. The next second, explosions were blowing up everywhere, bringing fire with them. Hail was being thrown around and felt pain sear through him, some fur burning off in the process. He screamed and closed his eyes as the fire licked at him and as the explosions rocked him around, waiting for the attack to be over. Eventually it ended, but Hail detected no change in the horrible pain coursing through him.

He struggled on the ground, trying to get up. However, his efforts were interrupted as three pillars of intense flame blasted him back down, making him cry out and causing tears to form in his eyes.

Oh Arceus, did it hurt. Hail's entire body was half-burned by now, and he couldn't feel anything but the pain. He felt like he was burning alive, only the pain was ten times worse.

The Flareon jumped down, coming to stand in front of Hail. Hail moved his head weakly to look up at him, but his vision was too blurred to make anything out other than red and yellow fur. The Flareon released a powerful white beam of destruction at him, blasting him back into a nearby tree. Upon contact with it, Hail screamed as pain cut through his shoulder like a knife.

Hail lay on the ground, his shoulder at an awkward angle, screaming the entire time. The pain was unbelievably bad, making him wish that he was dead.

"Looks like you can take some more," the Flareon said. Hail shook his head violently, though the act made the pain worse. Tears were flowing out of his eyes, induced by the flaring pain already numbing his mind and body.

An inferno of scarlet flames washed over Hail. He blacked out instantly, right before letting out an ear-piercing shriek of pain. As the flames receded, the Flareon smirked. He kicked some dirt over Hail's unmoving body. The Glaceon's shoulder lay at an awkward angle – It was clearly broken.

The Flareon's smile widened and he walked away, leaving Hail to die.

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**Ehh another short chapter. Oh well.**


	20. Bonus Chapter 3

**Wow 1,000 views, huh? I know I said I might begin another story here, but let's just delay that... Maybe make it 1,500 views? I personally don't want to start another story right now, for my own reasons. One of them being because I'd have too much to do. Anyway, I can't believe we're already at 1,000! It felt like just a few days ago that it was only at half that amount. Anyway, I had to think up something for this bonus chapter... So I thought: "Huh. Shadow's a bit of a mystery... Even to me. Why not focus on him?" So here you go, Bonus Chapter 3, as well as the first named Chapter. I give you, Bonus Chapter 3: Shadow of the Past.**

**Oops almost forgot the disclaimer. I do not own Pokemon, this story is here purely for entertainment purposes, and it is not meant to infringe on any copyrights.**

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Shadow sighed. 'I hate humans.' The thought suddenly drifted into his head. And why shouldn't he? Humans had killed his entire family, as far as he was concerned. His father, taken forcefully by them. His mother, killed when she had tried to protect Shadow and his brother. As for his brother... Well he didn't know. Shadow sighed again and shook his head, clearing his thoughts. Now was not the time to think about such things. He had a more important matter to take care of. He couldn't let thoughts like that mess up this day, one that he had been planning for about a year now.

This day was not a birthday. It was not a celebration. It was not a happy occasion.

It was murder.

Shadow shifted in his position, careful not to make too much noise. That Umbreon would come along any second now. And Shadow would kill him. Even though he knew he had to do this, he didn't like it one bit. 'That Umbreon deserves to die, along with the rest of those blasted Eeveelutions,' he reminded himself. 'And you're doing this to end a great evil.'

Shadow shook away the last of his doubts. He was going to do this.

Just like Shadow predicted, an Umbreon appeared, dragging an unconscious Eevee by its neck fur. Shadow inwardly took in a sharp breath. The Eevee was covered in wounds, ranging from scratches to gashes. Although he had already accounted for something like this, it was gruesome all the same. 'One more reason,' he thought angrily, staring at the Umbreon. 'Why you should die.'

Shadow was ready. He took a deep breath and leaped, crashing into the Umbreon's side. He bowled him off the Eevee, and the two rolled over one another, Shadow ending up on top. He was about to sink his claws into the Umbreon's neck, through the soft, undefended, flesh that was the difference between life and death.

'Hold on...' he thought, his claws an inch away from the Umbreon's neck. Shadow's eyes widened. He recognized this pokemon. The other Umbreon smiled.

"Hello... Little brother," he sneered. He slammed a paw into Shadow's chest, blowing him back with assurance. Although the move didn't effect Shadow greatly, double damage certainly took its toll.

Shadow recovered from the hit and faced his brother. "Twyll... You were that Umbreon the entire time?" he inquired. Twyll's eye twitched, and so did his ears.

"That is not my name anymore," Twyll growled. Shadow blinked.

"But why are you helping those... humans?" he asked.

"None of your business," Twyll answered before shooting a purple blob of pure darkness at Shadow. He quickly rolled to the left, dodging the shadow ball attack by half an inch.

Shadow didn't counter attack. He was still feeling uneasy about attacking Twyll. How could he kill his own brother, when he had desperately hoped for years that he was alive?

Twyll launched a huge, bright white beam at Shadow, which tore through everything in its way. Shadow countered with his own hyper beam attack, just as strong as his brother's. The two attacks met and faded.

"You got stronger, didn't you little brother?" Twyll asked with a crooked smile. Shadow's eye twitched and he stayed silent. "That'll make it all the more fun to kill you..." Shadow's eyes widened as he registered what Twyll said. He was shocked, so shocked in fact, that he didn't notice Twyll charging at him, enveloped in bright pinkish white and yellow light. The impact knocked Shadow back, slamming him against a tree. The air was knocked out of his lungs as he fell to the ground.

Despite the powerful attack, Shadow got up. "How could you kill me...?" he mumbled, just loud enough for Twyll to hear.

"Because I love killing," he answered with an evil smile. "I've killed so many pokemon, and humans - What's the difference between you and another Pokemon?" Shadow felt anger spark inside of him.

"The difference is that I'm your brother!" Shadow shouted, not believing that this was Twyll - A gentle, kind Umbreon who would rather be killed himself than kill.

"Family means nothing," Twyll spat. "It's just a word. It. Means. Nothing." Shadow shook his head.

"You're insane," he concluded.

"Maybe I am, but at least I'm not dead," Twyll responded. Shadow saw something in his eyes, but it quickly vanished. "Enough of this. We're ending this now." A deadly toxin began to secreted from his fur, poisoning Shadow. Shadow attacked with Facade, running at Twyll. However, Twyll was expecting this and had already burrowed deep underground to dodge him. He resurfaced just a second later, slamming into Shadow with a powerful dig attack.

Shadow tried to slash at him with his claws, but Twyll simply twisted his body and cleverly dodged the attack. He followed up by releasing a black aura, which enveloped Shadow. Although the attack wasn't very effective, it was still extremely powerful. Shadow gritted his teeth as he endured the hit. As soon as the pulse faded, allowing him sight again, he saw Twyll in mid-air, leaping at him with glowing claws. Shadow dropped down, having the intention of rolling to dodge. Twyll's first claw slashed right above Shadow's ear-tips. Shadow began to roll, but was stopped as Twyll's other claw caught him on the side, giving him a nasty gash.

Shadow jumped back up to his paws and quickly created a bright flash of light, which should blind Twyll for a short time. When Shadow turned, he saw complete darkness clashing with the light he had created. Neither could penetrate the other. Suddenly, Twyll cut through both attacks with hyper beam, and the white beam blasted Shadow directly.

Shadow was still standing, breathing hard, with one eye closed. Twyll launched an array of shadowy blobs at him. Shadow weaved through the first few, and used protect to shield himself from the rest. While this was occuring, a dark aura emanated from Twyll, surrounding Shadow. Shadow cursed silently as his protect disappeared and the darkness flooded in.

After struggling to get up again, Shadow finally began to counter-attack. His eyes glowed white in preparation to use psychic. Twyll just laughed.

"You should know that psychic moves don't have any effect on either of us, little brother," he said. Suddenly, the air around him seemed to push inwards, making him gasp.

"That's true..." Shadow murmured. "Psychic moves... don't effect us..." The telekinetic force increased, causing the air to compact tighter and tighter around Twyll. "But... the last time I checked, being squished to death has some effect."

Twyll felt the air get forced out of his lungs as the air closed in some more. He couldn't breathe anymore; He really was being squished to death. His vision began fading to black when the pressure disappeared, causing him to fall to the ground and take huge gulps of air.

Twyll sat up to face Shadow. "Wha-" he began. Shadow stopped him by slashing him across the throat. Twyll looked down at the fatal wound and fell to the ground. Shadow looked at his brother with sadness in his eyes.

"Shadow..." The Umbreon gurgled, blood spurting out of his neck. "I'm... Not... Twyll..." his head flopped back to the ground as his eyes glazed over. Shadow blinked.

'Then who are you? How did you know my name? How did you know Twyll?' the questions kept popping up in his mind. He desperately wanted to interrogate this Umbreon, but he couldn't, seeing as how he was dead. Shadow sighed and shook his head, sitting down to think.

A high pitched groan interrupted his thoughts. His gaze snapped to the source of the sound, which was the Eevee that 'Twyll' had dragged in earlier. Shadow made his way over to the little thing, peering down at her. He couldn't see her very well since it was dark, but he could make out her shape.

The Eevee's eyes fluttered open to see an Umbreon staring down at her. Her brown eyes widened and he began shaking with fear, a few tears rising. Her mouth opened to say something, but nothing came out.

"I'm not here to hurt you," Shadow reassured softly. The Eevee stared at him, confused, before looking behind Shadow to see another Umbreon, dead on the ground. The Eevee looked back at Shadow. "What's your name?" Shadow asked.

"Umm..." she replied.

"You don't have one?" Shadow asked. The Eevee shook her head. "Well... my name is Shadow." The Eevee nodded. "You're a shy one, aren't you?" The Eevee nodded again. "Well, we need to come up with a name for you... What about umm... Eve?" he suggested, being the terrible namer he was.

She shook her head. "Hmm... Uh, Vee?" The Evee made a face and shook her head again. "Well why don't you suggest something?" The Eevee looked up at the star filled sky.

"V- Veeria..." She mumbled in the softest, silkiest voice Shadow had ever heard. He nodded, then she yawned.

"Are you tired?" Shadow asked. Veeria nodded. "Then let's get some sleep." He curled up on the ground, right where he was. Soon enough, Shadow was snoring, but Veeria was still awake, staring up at the stars. She yawned again and shivered. It was freezing. She looked over at Shadow and tentatively crawled over to him, snuggling up against his body for warmth. She closed her eyes and drifted off into sleep.

Shadow's eyes opened to see Veeria sleeping next to him. His eyes widened. She was a shiny Eevee, silver in color. He must not have noticed last night because it was too dark. Instead of waiting for her to wake up, he shook her awake. She opened her eyes and yawned, looking up at Shadow.

"Sorry," she squeaked in her small, soft voice. Shadow shrugged.

"It's fine," he replied. "Now, where do you live? We should take you back to the place you came from." Veeria blinked.

"I... don't live anywhere." She said, looking down at the ground. Shadow blinked.

"I know of a place near here. You'll be safe there," he said. Veeria looked up at him. Shadow turned and flicked his ears, motioning for her to follow. She stumbled a bit before tottering after him.

Shadow led through the bushes and other undergrowth, clearing the way for Veeria. He headed in the opposite direction of the town nearby, hoping to keep her as far away from humans as possible. He could tell Veeria was struggling to keep up, but he didn't slow down, since she still managed to keep pace.

"Umm Shadow?" Veeria asked in the sweet voice of hers.

"Yes?"

"Where are we going?"

"Somewhere safe." That seemed to be enough for her. Silence enveloped them as Shadow continued to forage through the brush. It wasn't until Veeria tripped with a loud yelp that he stopped.

"You okay?" he asked. Veeria shook her head, a few tears in her eyes.

"Thorns..." she mumbled. Shadow looked her over.

"I don't see any on you," he told her. Veeria lifted a paw for him to look at. Sure enough, there was a thorn embedded deep in her pad.

"Jeez. Hold still, this might hurt," Shadow said. Veeria nodded. Shadow's eyes glowed white, and a soft blue light surrounded the barb. It slid out, making Veeria gasp.

"Thanks..." she said shyly, inspecting her paw. Shadow nodded and set off again. Veeria hurriedly got up to follow, ignoring her stinging paw. As she walked behind him, she took in the sight of the forest to block out her pain.

The trees in this forest were tall and thin. The leaves were prickly and blueish green in color. There was no real cover granted by the strange trees, allowing lots of sunlight to shine on the forest floor. Veeria looked up at the deep blue sky, staring in awe. She loved the sky and the stars.

Veeria cast her gaze back in front of her. Shadow was far up ahead. Veeria broke into a run to catch up, stumbling a bit along the way. She could see that they were about to come into a clearing. What was in it, she didn't know - The sunlight was blinding from where she was. Shadow stepped into it, making way for her to follow.

Veeria ran into the clearing and gasped. In the middle was the biggest tree she had ever seen. Its branches, covered with leaves, curled around everywhere, filling up almost the entire clearing. The trunk was so thick that it seemed like another tree could grow right inside of it. Its roots curled intricately around the ground, creating strange shapes out of wood.

"Is this...?" Veeria asked, too starstruck to finish. Shadow nodded.

"Yes. You'll be able to stay here," he answered.

"But... Are you sure it's safe?" she asked nervously. He nodded again.

"See, this tree is special. There's a special story that goes with it. Do you want to hear it?" Shadow asked.

"I love stories!" Veeria exclaimed excitedly.

"Long ago, this forest was just like it is now. These pine trees where everywhere, and it was a home to many pokemon," Shadow began. "It was perfect. No place in the world could have been better. But... that was the problem. It was too perfect. The pokemon there were able to live in perfect harmony with the land, but what happens when humans decide they want some?"

"They... Umm..." Veeria stammered, trying to think of an answer.

"They cut down the trees," Shadow said. "The forest got smaller and smaller. Eventually, the pokemon living there had enough so they all attacked the humans cutting down their home. How did the humans respond? Well, they had enough wood to last a lifetime, so they set the remaining trees on fire." Veeria's eyes widened.

"Then... How are these trees here now?" she asked.

"That's a good question," Shadow said. "When the fire happened, there were no water type pokemon to help put the fire out. So everyone evacuated. When the flames finally died down, all the remaining trees had been reduced to ash. There was a Leafeon named... Umm I forgot her name," he said.

"Aww..." Veeria complained. "Veeria wants to know!" Shadow blinked and his jaw dropped, suddenly remembering the name.

"The Leafeon's name was Veeria." he said. Veeria's eyes widened. "She was a shiny Leafeon. She had a sister who died in the fire. She was grief-stricken. Veeria didn't want anyone else to feel the sadness she felt, so she gave up her life to regrow the entire forest. She used her life essence to root herself into the ground and become a giant tree, which gave life to the lifeless soil."

"So... Is she...?" Veeria asked. Shadow nodded.

"Yes. She's the tree you see in front of you right now," Shadow verified. Veeria stared up at the tree, her eyes shimmering.

"What happened to the humans?" she asked. Shadow chuckled.

"Oh that part is hilarious. Apparently, the bark contained a toxin that is poisonous to humans. They all died." Veeria couldn't help but giggle.

"So... humans won't come back here?" she asked. Shadow nodded.

"That's one reason. The other reason is that they can't go inside the forest," he said. "You see, because Veeria is the forest, she is still alive. And she can choose who to let in, and who not to let in." Veeria nodded.

"Wow..." she breathed.

"There's one more thing," Shadow said. "Some pokemon claim that they can even hear Veeria here. They can hear her singing in the wind, they hear her running through the grass, and they hear her breathing in the wood of all of these trees."

Veeria's ears perked up to see if she could hear anything. "I don't hear it..." she said sadly. "Maybe Veeria doesn't like me..." Shadow smiled.

"I'm sure Veeria would absolutely adore you if she could meet you," he reassured. "And I'm sure she wouldn't mind if you stayed within her roots." He motioned over to the tree.

Veeria hesitantly walked up to it. "V-Veeria?" she asked, hoping for a response.

"That's not what I meant," Shadow clarified. "You can't just ask the tree. That's not ho-"

_"Oh but dear Shadow, that is how it works," _a voice resounded within both of them. Shadow's eyes widened.

"Hi Veeria!" Veeria yipped excitedly.

_"Hello little one,"_ the voice came again. _"You're here because you need a place to live, correct?"_ Veeria nodded happily.

"Yes! My name is-"

_"I know your name well," _said the voice. _"For you chose it. Names have power, Veeria. Never forget that."_

"What do you mean?" Veeria asked. There was no response. "Veeria? Hello?"

_"I will always be here when you need me. But for now, this is my gift to you," _the voice said. The ground began to shake and roots began to mold at the base of the tree. Soon enough, a den was formed from the roots, big enough for Veeria.

_"Veeria... You are the only one who will be allowed entry into my roots,"_ the voice echoed. _"As well as anyone you deem fit to enter."_

"Thank you!" Veeria exclaimed happily.

_"You're welcome. And Shadow... I thank you for bringing Veeria here."_ Shadow smirked.

"It was nothing... Great great grandmother," he said with a firm nod. Veeria looked back at him with surprise, her jaw dropped.

_"Oh? I'm surprised you know,"_ said the voice. _"Goodbye for now, Shadow, Veeria. I'll come back soon." _And with that, everything went silent.

"She... was your ancestor?" Veeria asked with awe. Shadow nodded.

"She was. She was so great... my mother would always tell me stories about her. Sadly, I don't have any of that greatness in my blood," he said. Veeria came up to him and nuzzled his leg with her head.

"You helped me," she reminded him. "To me, that's pretty great." Shadow smiled. "Thank you... b-big brother." Shadow blinked. Veeria withdrew and looked down at her paws. "Umm... Is it okay if I call you that?"

"Of course... little sister," he replied with a smile.

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**WOW that went a whole different direction than I intended it to go at first. I sort of just started writing absentmindedly, and eventually ended up with a whole mythological story-type deal. Hmm... So what do you think? Do you want to know what happens with Veeria? This may be continued in the next bonus chapter!**


	21. Chapter 17

**Whew. Finally done with re-writing this chapter. As for what happens with Veeria... Well you'll just have to wait and see if I decide to do anything with her. *laughs evilly* I personally want to know what happens to her, even though I'll be the one to write it, to be honest. You can probably expect something to come up that has to do with her in the near future. Now, onto the disclaimer. Once again: I do not own Pokemon, this story is here purely for entertainment purposes, and it is not meant to infringe on any copyrights. Also, keep track of the story and give it some reviews as well! Enjoy!**

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Petal stood in the trunk, her legs shaking. She could hear the sounds of battle, as well as feel the heat. Her blood turned to ice whenever she heard Hail scream. Soon everything fell silent, making Petal even more anxious. She turned to the ice barrier and tried to break it again with razor leaf.

"H-Hail?" she called quietly, even though she knew he couldn't hear her. She waited a bit longer. Hail still hadn't come back. She threw herself against the ice wall, hoping to smash it, to no avail. Her leaves steeled and became sharp as she tried to cut the ice open with leaf blade. Still, nothing.

This went on for a while longer, Petal not managing to make even a single dent in the ice. "Oh Hail…" she moaned. **A/N: That does not sound the way I intended it to. Please ignore that.** "Please be alright…" She could feel tears come to her eyes.

In one last attempt, Petal rammed the ice one more time with as much force as she could muster. To her surprise, the ice cracked and shattered. She had unwittingly used last resort. Petal quickly ran out the den only to see Hail, unmoving on the ground, his shoulder bent at a strange angle.

"Hail!" she screamed, running to him. She quickly checked his vitals – His heartbeat was slow and his quiet breathing irregular. Petal looked over his body. He was burned… everywhere, as far as she could tell. The injuries he had sustained were so bad that not even a Flareon could have survived them.

"Hail… Y-You promised…" she whispered, trying to convince herself that he wasn't dying. "You promised… that you would be okay…" She sniffled as a tear ran down her cheek, splattering onto Hail's fur.

"Oh… Hail… Please…" she murmured, tears streaming down her face. "No… don't die…" It was useless. Already, Hail's heart was beginning to beat slower, as his breathing became softer and more irregular.

"No! Stop it!" Petal shouted in despair. "Stop dying!" She collapsed and buried her face in his fur, sobbing into it. She ignored the coldness of his touch, and the fact that her tears were freezing into solid ice.

As Petal lay there, sobbing into Hail's fur, she didn't notice herself and Hail glow white. She didn't notice the small, yellow orbs surrounding them both. And she didn't notice his eyes flutter open.

"P-Petal…" he croaked. Petal's gaze snapped up and locked with his; she gasped and she began crying from joy.

"Hail…" she whispered, holding back the urge to tackle him because she was so excited. "You're…" he nodded and smiled weakly.

"Well… I might as well be dead…" he coughed. Petal couldn't keep herself in control any longer. She dropped down and embraced him, only to withdraw when she heard him gasp in pain. "My shoulder…" he whispered, his eyes dilating.

"I-I'm sorry!" Petal apologized, looking at the ground. She made a mental note to slap herself later.

"It's fine…" Hail reassured her. Petal sniffed, unconvinced. "Arceus, this hurts so much," Hail mumbled to himself. Sadly, Petal caught what he said.

"I- I'm really sorry," she said, tears coming to her eyes.

"Don't be. It's not like I'm not going to get hurt," he replied. "For Arceus' sake Petal, I have a broken shoulder." He chuckled, though the act made his lungs burn with pain. Her cheeks reddened in embarrassment.

"Still..." she mumbled.

"It's okay," Hail said again. "I'd rather have you hurt me than anyone else – Because I know you don't mean to do it." Petal nodded and sniffed. A silence came after.

"I'm glad you're alright," Petal murmured, breaking it. "I'm really relieved you're okay. I don't know what I'd do if something happened to you." Hail couldn't find the words to reply with, so he answered in the best way he could think of.

With a kiss. He tilted Petal's head up with a paw and leaned in, his maw meeting hers. She blinked a few times in surprise before closing her eyes. Hail could feel and hear Petal sighing into the kiss.

Hail finally broke away for air. He took deep, heavy breaths of the stuff as Petal sat there, watching the sky to hide her blush.

The temperature that day was pleasantly soothing – not too warm, not too cold. The air was crisp and cool, feeling like it had a sharp flavor to it. Clouds soared above, through the aquamarine pool of sky. Tree branches and leaves were being rustled by the wind, creating a soft, soothing sound of leaves brushing together. Petal soon found herself lost in thought as she stared into the boundless array of sapphire and emerald.

The sound of Hail's coughing brought Petal back to reality. "Umm Petal? Thunder sort of asked you a question." Petal's gaze snapped to Hail, then to the Jolteon standing right next to him. She blinked. She hadn't even noticed that he was there. And he wasn't alone, Flare was standing beside him.

"Huh?" Petal asked.

"What happened here?" Thunder asked again.

"A Flareon. He kind of tried to blow up my house and then tried to kill me," Hail responded. "So my day was fun, how was yours?" Thunder couldn't help but laugh a little. **A/N: I just realized that this story is lacking a bit on the comedic side. I've never been much good at that, but I'll try to throw some in anyway.**

"Well, the past few days have been just as fun," Thunder replied. "Flare was kidnapped, I saved her, and we fell in love." Hail blinked.

"So what now?" Petal asked, cutting in.

"I think I'll answer that one," Flare said. She began the story with describing her capture and rescue. She then told of Shadow and how they had met, ending with the Umbreon's own reasons for being here now.

"…And that's pretty much it," Flare concluded.

"Good 'cause that took forever," Thunder complained. "And I'm hungry." His stomach growled. Flare fake pouted.

"Oh- You- Agh." She said. Then her own stomach growled. Silence. "Shut up." Flare said before anyone else could comment. Thunder chuckled.

"Looks like you're hungry too," he teased. Flare blushed.

"I said shut up…" she mumbled. Hail and Petal looked at each other with a smile, thinking the same thing.

"You two are really cute together," they both said. Thunder and Flare both blushed as they looked away.

"…Shut up." Came the reply in unison. Petal and Hail laughed, though Hail soon stopped because his lungs were burning with the effort.

"Are you okay?" Petal asked in concern. Hail nodded.

"I'll live," he answered, smiling. Petal looked angry.

"Don't make jokes like that," she snapped. "You almost died. It's like you don't even realize that you almost left me alone forever." Hail flinched as her words sunk in.

"Sorry," he apologized, staring at the ground. Petal's gaze softened.

"No, I'm sorry," she replied. "I shouldn't have snapped. I didn't mean to make you feel worse." Hail smiled and looked up.

"I know. It's fine," he assured her.

"I'll go fetch Shadow… or someone else," Flare said before running off. Thunder nodded absentmindedly.

"Wow, that Flareon sure did a number on you Hail," he said, still staring at the many wounds covering the Glaceon's body.

"I noticed." Hail said flatly.

"That reminds me. How come Petal's perfectly fine?" Thunder asked. Petal stiffened, not wanting to answer that question. And judging by the look on Hail's face, neither did him.

"Well I sort of… locked her in the den," he said sheepishly. Thunder shook his head. Right then, Flare came back with Shadow close behind. The Umbreon ran to Hail and got straight to business, not bothering to introduce himself.

"Your shoulder. Sprained, dislocated, or broken?" he asked. Hail blinked.

"Umm… All three." He answered. Shadow silently cursed.

"Okay… Hold still, this will hurt," the Umbreon told him. Hail nodded as Shadow placed his paws on his shoulder, ready to yank the bone into place. With a quick flick, he did just that, sending the bone back where it belonged.

Hail screamed an ear-piercing, ten second scream while he writhed on the ground.

"What did you do to him!?" Petal shrieked, turning on Shadow.

"I caused him pain so that he feels less later," he replied honestly. Just then, Hail's screaming dropped down to a quiet moan. Petal turned back to him.

"Hail, are you okay?" she asked, whispering into his ear.

"Yeah… But it hurts…" he answered as he twitched. "I'll be fine though… don't worry." Petal turned back to Shadow, glaring daggers at him.

"His shoulder would have gotten worse if I didn't do that," Shadow said. Petal sighed and nodded.

"You're right… I just don't like to see him hurt is all," she replied.

"Apology accepted," Shadow said with a curt nod. "Now, I believe you're aware of the situation at hand?" Petal nodded.

"Yes. Flare explained everything already," she replied. Shadow gave a nod of thanks to Flare.

"Good. We can't afford to waste any time," Shadow said. "That Flareon attacked you out of boredom more than anything else. He's gone for now, but he'll be back soon enough."

"Soon enough? When is that?" Flare asked.

"A few days, at best," Shadow replied. "Thunder, I want you to come with me to look for your friends. We'll gather them all up here." With that, Shadow turned and began to stalk off. Thunder nodded and followed.

"How bad is it?" Petal whispered into the ear of a still squirming Hail.

"Terrible," he replied through gritted teeth.

Petal lay down and rested her paw on his. "You can handle it though, can't you?" she asked.

"Of course I can," Hail answered, smiling at her. He stopped twitching and squirming to face her. Petal smiled. She rubbed her cheek against his.

"How long do you think it'll take to mend?" Petal asked. Hail grimaced.

"Too long," he said with a sigh. "I'll be useless for a little while." Petal nudged his good shoulder.

"Hey, it'll be okay," she assured him. "You've looked after me for long enough to make me feel guilty. It's time for me to return the favor." Hail smiled again and repositioned himself so that his face was level with hers. Then, before Petal knew what was happening, Hail's mouth had connected with hers, and his eyes were closed. She blushed and closed her eyes, leaning into the kiss.

Flare, who was watching the entire thing, couldn't help but smile at the sight. Suddenly she craved to feel Thunder's warm embrace, to feel his fur melding with hers, to feel the soft press of his lips… She shook her head. 'Now's not the time to think about that,' she told herself. Still, she soon found herself daydreaming of Thunder again, and she began to lose focus with the world.

Flare lay down and stared up at the puffy clouds in the sky. She smiled as she thought of Thunder, and waited for Shadow to return with her beloved.

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**Eck I feel like I did a bad job with ending this chapter. I didn't want it to run on any longer than necessary, but I also didn't want to end it too abruptly. I feel like the ending was a bit unsmooth, what do you think?**


	22. Chapter 18

**Well, we've gotten to the part of the story that I don't like as much. It's about 6,000 words long, and I feel like most of the things that happen here are sort of pointless. So I'm going to cut that section down to 1,500 words. Now, about Veeria. I really want to do something with her, so you should expect something soon. Once again: I do not own Pokemon, this story is here purely for entertainment purposes, and it is not meant to infringe on any copyrights. Also, keep track of the story, and give it some reviews as well! Enjoy!**

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Shadow sighed. As usual, nobody was paying attention. Petal and Hail were still lying together, kissing, while Flare seemed to be lost in her own world. He coughed, bringing them to attention. The three turned to him with a surprised look.

"Shadow?" Flare asked. "When did you get here?" The Umbreon sighed.

"The same time Thunder got here," he replied. "Along with Stream, Dawn, Dusk, and Silk." Flare looked behind him, and sure enough, the four were watching her. But where was Thunder?

Suddenly a shock of electricity ran along Flare's back, making her yip in surprise. She whipped around to see Thunder standing right behind her, with a stupid grin on his face.

"Thunder!" she exclaimed. "Don't scare me like that!" he rolled his eyes.

"Come on Flare, don't pretend like you're not happy to see me," he replied. Flare blushed.

"Fine... I admit, I sorta missed you," she mumbled. Thunder chuckled.

"It's only been an hour," he said, making Flare blush harder. Then he pulled her close, causing her to stiffen up. "I've missed you too," he whispered into her ear. She relaxed as she was pulled into a kiss, and closed her eyes.

Stream felt like her heart had just shattered. She badly wanted to smack that Flareon with her tail, sending her into next week. But she wouldn't, for Thunder would hate her if she lay a paw on Flare. Stream sighed and turned around, resolving that it would be better if she didn't watch. She pawed at the grass, reminiscing of the times when Thunder and her would spend every minute together, long before that Flareon ever butted into her life.**  
**

"Hail." Shadow said, turning to him. Hail tilted his head. "I want to check your shoulder again. I thought about it, and I don't think it's as bad as you think it is." Hail blinked and nodded, shifting a bit so that his bad shoulder was open to him. Shadow poked and prodded at it softly, causing little discomfort to Hail. He gave a satisfied nod when he felt that all the bone was still intact, and his shoulder bone was simply bent.

"Good. This is an easy fix," Shadow said. His eyes began to glow white, and Hail's shoulder glowed a soft blue. Hail involuntarily yelped in surprise when he felt his bone begin to shift.

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Petal cut in worriedly. Shadow paused and looked at her.

"Yes. I've done this before," he assured her, thinking about a certain shiny Eev... No. He couldn't think about her right now. He refocused on the task at hand, mending Hail's shoulder. The bone was twisted, but not broken. As he shifted the bone back into place, Hail gave a relieved sigh.

"Thanks Shadow. That feels much better," he said. Shadow nodded.

"You'll need a couple days to heal completely," Shadow replied. "It'll be sore for that period, and if you strain it too much, the regrowing muscle could tear." Hail nodded.

Shadow continued to address the entire group. "I'm assuming you all know the situation by this point?" he asked. He got nods in response. "Good. Then you're all going to come with me and prepare." With that, he turned and began to leave. Dusk, Dawn, and Silk immediately went to follow. Stream took one more forlorn glance at Thunder before sulking off.

"I guess we should go too," Hail said, attempting to get up. Petal nodded. She stood and offered him her own shoulder to lean on. Hail nodded a thanks, accepting her help.

"Flare, Thunder, we need to go now," Petal said to the two lovebirds. They broke away from each other and glanced around, confused.

"Huh? Where did everybody go?" Thunder asked.

"Well, if you follow us, we'll show you," Petal answered before slowly starting on the way Shadow had went, Hail leaning on her for support. Thunder and Flare went after them, close up against each other's sides.

Two days of watching his friends train themselves, getting far stronger than him. Two days of sitting nearby, watching them leave him out. Two days of feeling useless. Hail sighed as the bleak thoughts invaded his mind once more, practically summoning a rain cloud to hover above his head. He smiled as Petal shot another glance at him. Petal was the only good part of these two useless days.

"Stupid shoulder," he growled, digging his claws into the ground. Hail took a look up at the sky. It was filled with streaks of red, signaling that sunset was approaching. The air felts significantly cold that day, though Hail, being a Glaceon, didn't notice it much. Now was about the time when training would break for the day. As soon as the group began to disperse, Petal made her way over to him.

Hail smiled as she approached. "I'm glad to see that at least one pokemon cares about me," he said sourly. Petal frowned.

"Come on, you know that everyone else are just as worried about you," she assured him. Hail laughed.

"Sure. Then how come you're the only one who's talked to me these past two days?" he asked.

"Well, firstly because everyone is so busy," she began. "And secondly, we sort of... live together." she added with a blush. "Thunder has Flare, Dusk has Silk, Stream prefers to be alone, and Dawn tends to her family's needs. You can't blame them if they don't have enough time to stop and chat." Hail sighed.

"I guess you're right..." he said, still unconvinced.

"If I didn't live with you, I doubt I'd have enough time to talk with you either," Petal said. Silence. Hail eventually sighed again.

"I hate feeling so useless," he admitted. Petal blinked.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"I mean, all I've done is sit here for two days while the rest of you work to the point of collapsing," he said, a little stronger than he intended to. "And now I'm supposed to sit out while the rest of you fight? What do _you _mean, asking 'What do I mean'?" Petal was silent for a moment. She sat down next to Hail, who was looking away from her, and she wrapped her tail around them, bringing them closer together.

"You're not useless," she whispered into his ear. "Who was the one that saved me again?" Hail turned to look at her.

"Anyone could've done that," he protested.

"But you did," Petal pointed out. Hail couldn't argue with that. "And no, not anyone would've risked themselves for a total stranger." Hail's cheeks had turned a slight red color.

"You don't need to keep thanking me for that..." he mumbled. Petal smiled and rubbed her cheek against his.

"But I want to. That was the single greatest thing anyone has ever done for me," she replied. "So... don't think of yourself as useless, okay?" Hail nodded slowly.

"Okay..." he agreed. Then he coughed. "Let's go home. This talk is tiring me out." Petal nodded and tried to stifle a yawn, but failed. She got up and offered her shoulder, again. Hail shook his head, and received a hurt look from her.

"I think I can walk on my own now," he told her. She gave him a worried look but nodded. Hail took a deep breath and carefully got up to his paws, feeling only a slight ache in his shoulder. He took a few steps, testing his weight, happy when he found out that his shoulder was able to support him again. Even so, Petal stayed close by his side the entire walk home.

"Arceus, it's freezing in here," Petal complained as soon as she stepped inside the den of ice. Hail laughed as she stood there, shivering.

"You say that every time you come in," he replied.

"That doesn't change how cold it is," she whined. Hail pulled her in close to him and kissed her. Petal's eyes widened and she blushed before she shut her eyes, leaning in. Although being in close contact with Hail only made her feel colder, the feeling of his maw pressed against hers filled her with warmth. Hail broke away from their kiss a while later.

"How was that?" he asked a still blushing Petal.

"...Better..." she mumbled shyly. Hail chuckled and made his way over to the tree trunk, lying down in the nest inside. Petal waited until her cheeks returned to their normal color before lying down with him.

"Be careful tomorrow," Hail said. Petal nodded. Hail closed his eyes and his breathing became steady. Petal looked at him and sighed before deciding that she should rest as well.

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**I got really lazy with this chapter. Sorry. I personally wasn't going full out with writing this one, so sorry about that. But, I've decided to start on another story, starring Veeria. It'll be a short story, I think, with a few chapters. That one won't be updated as much, though.**


	23. Chapter 19

**Whew last chapter was boring. Let's hope this one is better. Oh right! Fly Away From Fate, another story of mine, has made its debut, starring Veeria as the main character. If you want to look at that, just click this link s/10653528/1/Fly-Away-From-Fate. Alternatively, you can simply find it on my profile. Anyway, it's disclaimer time. I do not own Pokemon, this story is here purely for entertainment purposes, and it is not meant to infringe on any copyrights. Also, keep track of this fanfiction with the follow button, and give it some reviews as well! Enjoy!**

* * *

Stream lay on her back near the lake, staring up at the night sky. The moon was full and high, shining brightly. Stars twinkled and glittered, filling up the black cosmos with their light. Soft wind brushed through the grass Stream lay on, weaving and tickling at her fur. The soft sound of water splashing on rock soothed her, as her thoughts streamed endlessly throughout her head. They were mostly thoughts of Thunder.

_"Let's go back into the water now!" _Stream smiled and looked over to the bank of the lake. In her mind's eye, she caught sight of a younger version of herself, shyly watching a younger Thunder jump into the water. His head disappeared under the water for a moment before he resurfaced, laughing. Her smile faded and she sighed. If only...

_"I love you Thunder," Stream murmured into Thunder's ear as she gently pinned him to the ground. Thunder's eyes widened and he answered the best way he could..._

If only.

_...He wriggled out of her grasp and pulled her in close to him, his fur sparking with excitement. He leaned in, his mouth meeting hers, and offered the deepest, most loving kiss he could give..._

If only she had.

_...Stream closed her eyes and returned the kiss. A single tear leaked from her closed eye, not one of sadness, but one of joy. Finally, after all of these painfully long years of friendship, she had earned her true love's kiss._

If only she had told him.

Stream returned to the present and realized she was crying. She shook her head and growled, trying to tell herself it was too late; too late to go back; too late to tell him; too late for his love. But still, she continued to sob into the night, her tears being greedily absorbed by the ground under her.

Stream collapsed onto the ground and decided it was too hard to fight her sadness. Five years worth of longing, pain, and loneliness crashed down on her like a wave, sending her into a mad hysteria of tears and sorrow.

"Stream? Are you okay?" a voice called. Stream sniffed, hoping it was Thunder. She looked up, but saw that it was Dusk. Not who she had hoped for, but good enough. Dusk was kind and thoughtful, and he never pried for details. Stream shook her head. Dusk sat down on the grass next to her, and made himself comfortable. "What's the problem?"

"Dusk... What do you do if you want something more than anything... But you know you can never have it?" Stream asked, sniffing. Dusk blinked.

"Well..." he began. "Not everyone gets exactly what they want... Life isn't perfect. But, as long as you can keep moving forward, as long as-" he cut off abruptly. Then he blinked. "Sorry... I'm just used to having Dawn-" he cut off again. Stream smiled a little.

"It's okay," she said. "But umm... could you... could you keep going?" Dusk nodded.

"As long as you can look to tomorrow instead of to yesterday, and as long as you can find the good hiding in the bad, something will go your way," he continued. "Life isn't perfect, but it isn't a completely flawed either. There's something waiting for you, but you have to find it. If you keep hanging on to what life didn't give you, you'll miss what it does."

"Wow... That was some speech..." Stream reflected. Dusk suddenly found an interesting star to look at.

"Eh... Now I'm embarrassed..." he replied. Then he coughed and turned back to Stream. "Well... did I help?" Stream smiled and nodded.

"You have no idea," she answered. Dusk smiled, glad that he could help, and walked away. Stream turned back to the lake, and peered in to look at her reflection.

'_If you keep hanging on to what life didn't give you, you'll miss what it does."_ Those words kept playing in Stream's mind. She smiled. Just then, a streak of light flashed by her head in the water. She looked up at the sky to catch a second shooting star rocket across the night sky.

'Dusk is right,' was the only thing she could think. 'Life gave Thunder to Flare, not me. But Life will give something to me, which it won't give to her.' She smiled. Five years of anguish had just been washed away by a string of words that only took a few seconds to say. With a satisfied nod, she leaped into the water, swam to the bottom of the lake, and made herself comfortable. With one last glimpse of the stars from under the lake, she closed her eyes and slept.

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**Wow, that was one of the best chapters I've ever written, in my opinion. That got so detailed so quick. I'm surprised I was able to pull that off. Still though, there's always room for improvement.**


	24. Chapter 20

**I feel like chapter 19 will hold the title of "Best chapter" for the rest of my life. Let's see if this one can compare, but I doubt it will be able to. I'm glad I was able to pump out last chapter too, because it sort of re-invigorated my love for this story. I was beginning to get a bit bored with re-writing it to be honest, but the huge curveball that was chapter 19 pushed that away. Oh, and if you're too lazy to click my profile and look for my other fanfic there, here's a link: ** s/10653528/1/Fly-Away-From-Fate. **So, without much further ado, let's go to chapter 20.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon, this story is here purely for entertainment purposes, and it is not meant to infringe on any copyrights.**

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The sun rose all too quickly for the inhabitants of the forest the next day. As the sun got higher, so did their anxiousness. Today could be the last day they'll ever get to see.

Petal, after leaving Hail, made her way to a spot Shadow had marked out for them last night. Thunder and Flare where already there, ready for a fight. Dusk soon arrived with Dawn, and not long after came Silk. Last but not least came Stream, who managed to keep her emotions under control upon seeing Thunder.

The kind of day that day was in one word: Bleak. Grey clouds ate away the entire sky, leaving a dreary, shaded ceiling. Wind howled through the forest, and with it came the cold air of Winter. Even the trees, which were usually mesmerizing and soothing, were mostly devoid of leaves, creating a wooden rattling sound that did little to ease their misgivings.

Clouds formed whenever one of the Eeveelutions would breathe out. They all stood in a ring, shivering. Shadow cleared his throat, directing attention towards himself.

"Right, let's go over our plan," he said. "Thunder and Flare."

"We're supposed to storm them, while everyone else hides," Thunder replied, answering the question that had not been asked. Shadow nodded.

"Good. Dusk and Dawn?"

"I'm supposed to-" Dawn began.

"Attack everyone, including Thunder, Flare, and Dawn." Dusk finished.

"While I shield us three with protect," Dawn said. Shadow looked between the two, trying to sort out what they had said. Then he nodded.

"Right. Petal and Stream."

"While all of this is happening, I dig out the area underground," Petal said.

"...Then I fill it all with water, and create geysers to attack." Stream continued.

"Okay. Last but not least, Silk."

"I use misty terrain to blind our enemies. Then I kill them all." Shadow blinked. Silk smiled and laughed. "Just kidding. I just make sure that there's no resistance at the end." Everyone laughed. Shadow nodded.

"Okay," he said. Then, without realizing it, he looked at Dawn. "Be careful," he said. Dawn blinked and tilted her head.

"Sure... but why are you only talking to me?" she asked. Shadow blinked.

"Oh. I... sort of spaced out," he lied, with a cough. "Right. Anyway, let's put this plan into effect, shall we?"

"Hold on," Petal cut in. "What about the humans? What are we going to do about them?" Shadow's ears twitched.

"They won't be here for a while. We'll worry about them later," he replied.

Suddenly, a huge jet of water slammed into Flare from the side, roughly shoving her to the ground and knocking her unconscious. Thunder whipped his head to where the attack came from, only for his eyes to widen. A giant wave of water was rushing towards them. Right before it hit, he leaped at Flare and grabbed her collar fur. Then, the water slammed into him, soaking his fur and causing him to turn and tumble in the vortex, unable to see what was happening or where he was. The complicated plan that had been laid out perfectly had just been reduced to dust.

"She'll be okay," Hail kept telling himself. "Petal's going to be fine." He paced around in his den, worrying about her the entire time. She had made him promise to, under no circumstances, break open the ice wall and come outside. 'It's not like you'll be any good in the fight anyway,' he thought. 'You'll just get in the way. Do. Not. Go. Out.' Even so, the only thing he wanted to do at the moment was crush the ice that separated him from Petal, and rush to her side, just to make sure she was okay. In here, he couldn't even find out if she was still alive. She could be in trouble. She could be screaming for his help. She could be de-

Hail growled and shook his head. Those kinds of thoughts weren't going to help, so why bother worrying? Still, his mind kept circling back to Petal, on the ground, screaming out for him. He heard her screaming slice through the air, turning his blood to ice... Then he realized it was real. He could hear Petal screaming. His heart stopped for a second and he froze.

Everything was silent. For a second, Hail thought he had just imagined it, when he heard her screaming again. He couldn't stop himself any longer and rammed the ice that sealed his door, shattering it instantly. He jumped outside, his gaze whipping back and forth, looking for Petal.

"Quit looking, you won't find her." Hail turned to see yet another pokemon on his roof, but this time, it was a Glaceon. Hail narrowed his eyes.

"What do you mean, I won't find her?" he asked.

"I mean, she's not here. I was the one screaming," she replied. Then she jumped down, landing quietly in front of him. Hail took a step back.

"Who are you?"

"You should already know, Hail," she responded.

"No, I shouldn't. And how do you know my name?" he asked. Her eye twitched.

"Yes you should," she argued. "And I know your name, because I was the one who came up with it." Hail blinked, confused for a second. Then his eyes widened as he understood her implied meaning. The Glaceon smiled. "Hello... son."

Thunder coughed up water as his vision spun around in circles. He shook his head as it returned to normal. He couldn't feel Flare's fur in his jaws anymore, causing him to shoot up and look around wildly for her. He found her, still unconscious, a few paces away from him. He began closing the short distance between him, but as he did, he felt a shift in the air. Thunder then dove and shoved Flare out of the way of an incoming orb of green light, rolling both of them to safety.

Thunder stood over Flare as he faced their attacker. Well, attackers. There were two pokemon standing there, a Leafeon and Vaporeon. He got into a defensive stance, though his chances didn't seem good. This was not going to end well.

Stream was the only one who managed to withstand the surf attack, being a Vaporeon. When the water disappeared, she glanced around, only to see that everyone had vanished: carried away by the wave. "Hello? Shadow? Thunder? Anyone?" she called out.

"I'm anyone, do I count?" a voice answered, whispering the words into her ear. Her eyes widened as she turned around to face a Jolteon. He was large, with a scar running over his left eye. The Jolteon smiled crookedly as electricity sparked along his fur, ready to shock Stream with its power.

Petal breathed hard: The water had had a toll on her strength. Thankfully, it was water, so she simply drew it into her leaves, along with some sunlight, to replenish her health. She sighed and shook the last bit of water from her fur. Finally, she wasn't wet anymore.

She was... burning.

Petal gasped as fire licked at her fur and leaves. She rolled away from the hungry flames, wincing at the sting in her back paw. She stood back up to see a Flareon in front of her, fire burning the grass at his feet. Her eyes steeled and her mouth hardened into a line as she realized that this Flareon was the one who had attacked Hail. She growled and got ready for a fight, even though she was usually pacifistic. This piece of garbage had hurt Hail, and she was going to get him back for it.

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**As I thought, not even close to the quality of last chapter. *sighs* Maybe when something not-boring happens, then a good chapter like that will come around again.**


	25. Chapter 21

**Sorry about the long wait on this chapter. I do not own Pokemon, meaning this story is here purely for entertainment purposes, and it is not meant to infringe on any copyrights. Also, keep track of the fanfic with the follow button, and give it some reviews as well! Enjoy!**

Stream didn't have anytime to react as a flurry of electricity discharged from the Jolteon's fur, shocking her and everything in the area. She cried out from the force of the attack and dropped to the ground. Stream managed to get up to her paws, only to be met by another attack. The Jolteon, who was shrouded in electricity, rammed into her, causing a loud clapping sound. Stream was thrown backwards, landing painfully.

She groaned and simply lay there. Though she was only hit with two attacks, they were both super-effective, and her opponent was extremely strong. A wicked lightningbolt dropped down, striking Stream. She screamed as the electricity coursed through her body, and continued to scream even when it had all dissipated. The attack had left her in agonizing, unrelenting pain, and she was paralyzed to boot.

The Jolteon, bored at this point, decided to play around before killing her. He slammed her twice in the sides with two kicks, forcing tears to her eyes. He then willed his spiky fur to harden, and shot at her with a pin-missle attack. Stream just took the attacks, not able to do anything else.

To finish, the Jolteon sweeped her up with another kick, knocking her into the air. While she was still airborne he released a strong blast of electricity from his body, which crashed down upon Stream, causing her to scream again. Right before Stream hit the ground, he brought his paw forcefully down upon her back, shoving her downwards.

Stream, at this point, was barely conscious. The only thing that existed was pain - She couldn't feel her limbs, the grass she lay on, or the Jolteon pinning her down. There was only pain.

_'If you keep hanging on to what Life didn't give you, you'll miss what it does.'_ The thought somehow crossed her mind, possibly due to the fact that she was about to die. 'Lot of good that's going to do me,' she thought sourly. 'Apparently Life didn't give me anything...'

The Jolteon opened his maw to reveal a set of shining white jaws, that began to dance with electricity a second later. He reared back, preparing to deliver a fatal blow. He rushed in, planning to clamp his electrified teeth down upon this Vaporeon's neck, inflicting a wound that would never heal. It would be too easy to pierce through the soft, unprotected flesh.

He stopped.

His teeth, less than an inch away from Stream's neck.

The electricity on his jaws gravitated towards Stream's fur, as if it were begging him to continue.

Her blood. He could hear her blood pounding throughout her body madly, as if in a frenzy. Or maybe that was just his own.

Seconds passed. Then minutes. Seconds turned to minutes. Minutes turned to what seemed like an hour to both of them, for different reasons.

One inch away.

A one second deed.

Only one more dead.

So why couldn't he do it?

The Jolteon pulled back. Stream felt the weight on her shift, but she didn't dare open her eyes to check why. He sighed, still on top of her, though it wasn't like she could resist anyway. 'Why can't I kill her?' he asked himself, more out of curiosity than anger. After killing so many pokemon, why was it that he couldn't bring himself to rid the world of this one?

He stepped off the Vaporeon. Stream noticed this, but didn't bother to feel confused. He was still going to kill her.

He rested his paw under Stream's chin, claws sheathed. Stream tensed, thinking he was going to kill her in a slower, crueler way. She shut her eyes tighter, but even that didn't stop a few tears from leaking out of her closed eyes. The Jolteon lifted her chin and made eye contact with her - At least, he looked into the Vaporeon's eyelids.

_Thump._ One heartbeat.

_Thump._ Two.

_Thump._ Now three. Every passing moment, her heart would beat. Her heart would tell her that she was still alive. As she waited for it to stop, she counted the intervals that measured the amount of time she had left.

_Thump._ Four. She should be dead.

_Thump._ Five. Stream couldn't take the tension anymore.

Stream's eyes fluttered open, to be met by the Jolteon's fairly expressionless gaze. She cringed and tried to cower away from him, but he held her in place. So she simply looked away from him, too afraid to make eye contact.

"J-Just k-k-kill me a-already..." she stammered, her eyes still leaking tears.

"No," the Jolteon replied in a rough voice, to her surprise. "I can't." Stream began to feel mixed emotions, but predominantly angry confusion.

"You _can't_?!" she tried to scream. Instead, her voice came out hoarsely, and the strain on her vocal cords caused her to cough up blood. "You cause me the worst pain I've ever felt, make me wish I was dead, and then you say you can't kill me?" she sputtered, bewildered.

"Yes." He replied simply. Stream blinked and had another bout of coughing, spewing out more red bodily fluids. "It's funny though, isn't it? I've killed more pokemon than anyone could count, except I can't kill you." Stream stayed silent, still extremely afraid of him.

Another round of bloody coughing.

And another. Both going by without conversation. Exactly like heartbeats.

'It's strange... I feel... bad that I did this to her,' the Jolteon thought to himself. "I'm sorry," he apologized, saying the words before even realizing that they had entered his mind.

"J-Just k-kill me..." Stream coughed. "I-It... Hurts..."

"What's your name?" he asked, ignoring her. A pause.

"If I tell you, will you kill me?" Stream asked, before coughing up, you guessed it, more blood.

"Sure," the Jolteon lied.

"Stream."

"Nice to meet you, Stream. My name is Volt," Volt replied. "Although I might not be offering a very good impression by saying this, but I lied when I agreed to kill you after you told me your name." Stream sighed.

"Thought so..." she muttered. "But please... Just do it... It hurts too badly. I'm just going to die later, so can't you just end my misery now?" The Jolteon chuckled.

"Nope," he said. "When I make up my mind, it doesn't change."

"But didn't you want to kill me earlier?" Stream asked.

"I never said that," he pointed out.

"...Your voice is... weird," Stream commented. The moment she said it, she realized it was true. The Jolteon's pokevoice was deep and rough, but also smooth at the same time. It was almost like his voice was scarred, but that scar was already fading.

"Is it?" he asked. "Some pokemon say it sounds like war. I have no idea what that means, but I guess that sounds cool." Stream, despite her pain and other emotions, managed to crack a smile.

"Now that you mention it... It does kind of sound like war..." she replied. "It reminds me of war. It sounds like you've been in one. Have you?" Volt shook his head.

"No," he replied, glad that he was warming up to the Vaporeon. He wanted to repent for his actions, for some odd reason, but he wasn't sure how. 'Look at me, going soft,' he thought. 'What happened to the Jolteon that wouldn't hesitate to kill?'

Stream coughed up some more blood. "Now that we've had that little conversation, can you kill me already? I'd really appreciate it." Volt shook his head.

"For the last time, no."

"Then at least tell me why you didn't," Stream said.

"I couldn't," Volt answered.

"That's not an answer."

"Fine. I wouldn't."

"Still not an answer."

"Dammit Stream," Volt sighed, annoyed. He thought about the question for a while longer. "Well... I don't really know, to be perfectly honest. But it was something like, a voice in my head told me that I would regret killing you. Or something like that. I don't know." Stream hacked up more blood.

"Well thanks a lot, 'voice in Volt's head'," she grumbled. "This blood is starting to get annoying. And don't even get me started on how much this hurts."

"Oh, right... Sorry," Volt said sheepishly. He proceeded to perform a special little trick that he had figured out how to do a while back. He spiked out his fur a bit and let the weakest electricity he could muster dance around the points. Then he poked at the Vaporeon in various places, causing the painless volts to flood into her body.

Stream sighed from the sudden relief of the pain. She had expected it to lessen a bit, maybe get reduced to a dull throb, but all of it had disappeared. Whatever Volt had done, it worked.

"What did you just do?" she asked curiously.

"A special trick of mine. I used electricity to jam your nerves, so that they can't send signals to your brain telling you that somewhere hurts," Volt explained. "So basically, the pain is still there - You're just not feeling it."

Stream smiled, sat up, and slapped him straight across the face with her tail.

"What the hell was that for?" Volt asked. Stream slapped him again and glared.

"Hmm... I don't know, maybe for almost killing me, and then acting like nothing happened?" she offered. "If you wanted to be friends, forget it. Get away from me, and don't ever come near me again. If that makes you mad enough to kill me right now, then do it. I don't care." Volt didn't know how to respond.

So he left. He turned around and began to walk off, filled with confusion and even some sadness. "Sorry for caring, for once in my life." Stream turned and blinked, watching him go. She didn't stop him from leaving, and continued to watch him go until his outline had faded from sight.

* * *

Volt: "Hey, that's not what happened!"

Stream: "He's right, you know... We were supposed to uhm... uh... f-fall in love..."

Me: "I know."

"..."

**That's right, in the original story, Volt ends up falling for Stream. But then I thought, hold on, that makes no sense. So I decided to cut that part entirely. Sorry Volt.**


	26. Chapter 22

**Looks like we're finally back. Sorry, I've been neglecting this story for a while, in favor of my other one. Fly Away From Fate will be receiving more frequent updates from now on, at least until it's finished. This story will have very few updates, due to my limited time and tight schedule. Once again: I do not own Pokemon, this story is here purely for entertainment purposes, and it is not meant to infringe on any copyrights. Also, keep track of the story with the follow button, and give it some reviews as well! Enjoy!**

Stream turned back around and lay down with a sigh, recounting what had just happened. She had been forced into a one-sided fight, losing beyond belief, and then her attacker had healed her, apologized, and left. 'Strange day I'm having,' she thought, staring up at the sky. As the clouds flew by, as the wind blew through the grass, and as the minutes ticked past, Stream began to realize something.

She felt lonely.

It wasn't the deep, aching, hurting loneliness that she had felt with Thunder. It was a much milder feeling, like a light rain that did naught but reinvigorate plants and pokemon alike. While a heavy rain destroys, a light rain sustains. Her loneliness made her feel slightly sad, but also gave her the hunger to cure it.

But why? Why did she feel this way? She hadn't felt like this after her talk with Dusk... At least, until now. There had to be a reason. It could be the time she had had to think, Volt, the weather, Volt, the temperature, or Volt.

'Hold on...' she thought. 'Did I just list Volt three times?' She sat up and stared back in the direction that Volt had gone in. As she stared, her heart yearned for her to go. To go into the path set out for her, to go to Volt.

'It's starting to make sense...' she thought, nodding slowly. 'First I wanted Thunder, which was when I felt lonely. Now I feel lonely again... Could it be because I want Volt?'

She got up gingerly and took a few slow but steady steps in the direction he had gone. After she was sure that she could stand and walk on her four legs, she took off after him as fast as she was daring to go. The longer she thought about it, the surer she was. She had enjoyed Volt's company, which explained the loneliness and its light intensity. Right then and there, she resolved to talk to him at least one more time before he left for good.

Stream went a little faster, ignoring her now aching joints. She winced as she thought about how much pain she could be in had Volt not aided her. After silently thanking Arceus for his sudden change of heart, she pushed herself even further, increasing her speed to her maximum.

Stream flew through bushes, over logs, and around thickets, hoping to catch a glimpse of a yellow coat in the sea of green, now dulled by Winter's white. Nevertheless, a shockingly yellow coat would be easy to spot in the forest.

Her search proved fruitful after she jumped over a boulder, catching a blur of gold as she leaped past. When she landed she turned and saw a Jolteon laying against the stone, watching her with interest.

Stream's eyes narrowed. "Volt?" she asked hesitantly, still unsure of what she would say to him.

"And I assume you're Stream?" he asked, not bothering to answer her question. She nodded. "I didn't think you'd come looking for me, after that whole episode." Stream pawed at the ground awkwardly.

"Ehh... Sorry?" she apologized strangely, as if she were asking him whether or not he would accept it. Volt chuckled.

"Apology accepted," he replied. "So anyway, why did you come looking for me? I was actually about to go find you too."

"Huh? How come?" Stream asked, her curiosity piqued.

"I got lonely," Volt answered simply. "It was fun talking to you. I wanted to talk again. It's not like I have any other real friends anyway." Stream blinked, surprised that his reasons were identical to hers.

"That's the same reason why I came to find you," she said. Volt tilted his head.

"Yeah?" he asked. "What a coincidence. I guess we're more alike than we originally thought," he commented. Stream nodded.

"Maybe."

A silence ensued. Not an awkward one, though. It was a silence wherein two pokemon sized each other up, trying to determine if the other was like them, and if so, in what ways.

"Well, then why don't we get right down to it?" Volt asked, shifting a little bit. He moved over and offered a spot for Stream to sit right beside him. At first, she was skeptical to do so, but after a few seconds decided that sitting next to him wouldn't kill her. Probably.

"Hmm. Now that I'm actually here, I have no idea what to say," Stream said. Volt laughed.

"Good, cause neither do I," he replied.

"All I know is that I wanted to talk one more time, before you had to leave," she stated. "But now it looks like that plan's going into the trash." Volt looked at her.

"What do you mean? I'm not leaving," he said.

"You're not?" Stream asked. "But what about those... humans? And those other Eeveelutions? Don't you have some sort of... job to do?" Volt chuckled.

"Not anymore," he answered. "I failed to kill you. That means I don't go back. It's as simple as that." Stream nodded and smiled. She had no idea why, but she felt happy that Volt didn't have to leave.

"Hold on," she said, remembering something he had said at the beginning of their conversation. "Did you call me your friend?" Volt paused.

"I guess I did," he answered. "So Stream, are you okay with becoming friends with the pokemon who tried to murder you?" Stream smiled.

"I'm fine with that," she replied. "After all, what's the worst that could happen?" Volt laughed. He shifted, unconsciously inching closer to her. Stream noticed, but she decided not to move away.

"All of a sudden, I'm feeling a lot less lonely," he stated. Stream nodded in agreement.

"You can say that again," she said.

"Okay," Volt said. "All of a sudden, I'm feeling a lot less lonely." Stream rolled her eyes and smacked him lightly with her tail.

"I didn't really mean that," she scolded, though her tone was playful. Volt chuckled.

"I had no idea," he lied in a sarcastic tone. Stream smiled.

"So... How come you didn't kill me?" she asked awkwardly. Volt shrugged.

"I really don't know," he answered. "But I'm glad I didn't." Stream nodded. An uncomfortable silence followed.

"It's... hurting again," Stream lied quietly. Volt looked at her.

"What is?" Volt asked.

"Me. From our... fight earlier."

"Oh?" he asked. "Come here." Stream managed to stop herself from blushing and shyly inched closer to him. She lay down next to him. Volt began to poke at various joints and other spots, sending a small jolt of electricity in as he went along. Stream smiled, enjoying the treatment she was getting.

"That feels better," Stream thanked him when he sat back. "Thanks."

"Anything, anytime," he replied, resting back against the rock.

'Anything?' Stream thought.

"Yes, anything," Volt said. Stream then realized she had spoken her thoughts aloud. She looked away, a faint blush spreading along her cheeks.

"Your attitude changes quickly," she said, still looking off into the distance. "First you're out to kill me. And now you say you'd do anything for me." Volt chuckled.

"If you're anything like me, as you said you were, then I'm pretty sure you're a bit bipolar as well." Stream smiled and nodded.

"Well... There was that time when I was depressed about... someone. Then a friend came along, told me a few things, and I was perfectly happy as could be right after. So I suppose we share common ground in that sense too," she concluded. Volt chuckled.

"Just how alike are we?" he wondered out loud.

"Too much," she joked. "I'd hate to be like you." Volt smiled and took her chin in his paw.

"Tough luck," he replied, turning her face towards his. "Because you are." Stream found herself blushing again, now unable to hide it, so she simply averted her eyes. Volt soon released her, sensing her discomfort. He sighed and a silence followed. Whenever he looked over at the Vaporeon female, who was still turned away from him, he would smile slightly.

"Do you feel like you belong in... here?" he asked, motioning around him with a paw. Stream looked back after him, and after a moment of thought, shook her head.

"Not really," she said sadly. "I feel like everyone here is friends with everyone, except for me." She looked down at her paws. "I feel like they forget about me sometimes..." Her emotion began to show, causing small tears to trickle down her face, and causing her to recall painful memories of Thunder. To her surprise, Volt pulled her close to him and embraced her. She yelped in surprise before relaxing and resting her head on his chest, her heart rate beginning to increase.

"Good, because I didn't feel right with my... 'friends' either," Volt whispered. "Killing others guiltlessly? Inflicting pain to amuse yourself? It left a bad taste in my mouth." Stream nodded and murmured something incoherent.

"What was that?" Volt asked, his ears perking up.

"This is... an awkward position..." Stream mumbled, her face red. Volt realized what she meant and let go, his own cheeks tinting pink.

"Sorry," he apologized. "You just seemed like you needed someone to comfort you... So I-" he was cut off as Stream pressed herself against him and lay her head on his chest once more. It was now his turn for a faster heartbeat to occur.

"It was awkward..." Stream said. "But I never said I didn't like it." Volt blushed and smiled, bending his neck to rest his chin on her head. He closed his eyes and the two stayed entwined for what seemed like forever, but was in reality, only a few minutes. Volt finally opened his eyes when he felt Stream move away, thinking maybe she was beginning to get uncomfortable.

"We're alike," Stream began. "We share the same thoughts, the same personality, and even the same... emotions." Volt nodded slowly, unsure of where she was going with this.

"So does that mean... we..." she began nervously. Volt tilted his head.

"Mean what?" he asked. Stream blushed.

"Does that mean we... s-share the same feelings for each other?" she asked shyly, her voice dropping a countable number of decibels. Volt blinked and his eyes widened as he realized what she meant.

"You...?" he asked.

"I-I don't know," she replied. "I..." she looked away, unable to finish.

Volt turned her head towards his with a paw. She avoided his gaze, worried that he might reject her. Instead he lifted her chin slightly and leaned in, his mouth meeting hers. Stream's eyes fluttered closed and she pushed into the kiss to make it more pleasurable. It wasn't until now, until her heart was beating too quickly to count its thumps, until she was pressed up against Volt's fur, in his embrace, did she realize something.

She had fallen in love with a murderer. The thought made her smile into the kiss, which Volt simply took as a sign that he was doing something right. It wasn't for a while until they parted, and when Volt drew away, Stream still wanted more.

"Volt..." Stream mumbled.

"Stream," he whispered back. "Are you okay with becoming a lover of the pokemon who tried to murder you?" Stream smiled and nodded.

"What's the worst that could happen?" she asked, her eyes sparkling. Volt grinned.

"This!" he exclaimed, suddenly tackling her and pinning her against the ground. His grip was soft, and Stream could've easily escaped, but she wanted to have some fun. She squirmed and wriggled, pretending to be stuck. She looked up into Volt's ink black eyes and he met her gaze. They soon got lost within each other's eyes, love mirrored within both sets.

"Volt," Stream whispered, happy that something was finally going her way.

"Yes?" he asked, also in a hushed tone.

"Please... Promise me that you'll never leave me alone..." she replied. "I don't want to feel lonely ever again." Volt smiled, still mesmerized by her beautiful eyes, just as she was lost in his.

"I'd never dream of it," he vowed. "Because neither do I."

* * *

**Eck that was mushy. Still, I feel like that was better than some of the chapters I've been writing recently. **


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